Naruto: Beyond the World of Light
by Psalm Of Fire
Summary: A scourge handicapped the Sharingan at the start of the Third Great War.  9 years since the Kyuubi's defeat a dark figure closes in on Naruto, kunai clutched tight.  They will take his sight, and his way of life, and Naruto must find a new Ninja Way.
1. Murder Intended

_This is a non-profit work. Please support the official release._

_Rated T, for intense situation._

-ii-

From the Hokage's office Sarutobi looked out through the rain splattered window across his village, a smile playing on his lips. The buildings outside where washed in blues and shadows, ghosts in the storm. He fingered the traditional Kage hat in one hand and tugged at his goatee with the other. His robes were wrinkled from the day's use. The white of his hair and clothes stood in contrast to the night, and Sarutobi, for a moment, imagined himself like a beacon to the streets below. His pipe lay abandoned on the desk behind him.

It had been nine years since his successor died. Nine years that - compared to the Kyuubi attack - had few regrets to fill them.

"The village thrives, Minato," he mumbled.

_'It would have been easier than this job,' _he thought wryly - sacrificing himself, that is.

Tonight's downpour had ended the festival prematurely. _'Probably for the better,'_ Sarutobi decided with a stroke of his goatee. Flashy displays of fire manipulation, excess alcohol... the party element seemed too soon. Maybe he was being biased, it had been ten years.

A swift knock sounded.

"Enter," Sarutobi said, turning from the window.

A Hyuuga chuunin stepped in, tense and soaking wet. His eyes swept the room in a flash and then he bowed, saying, "Sir, an urgent message from Hyuuga Hiashi-sama." Sarutobi nodded for the man to continue; it wasn't often the council members bothered him on this day. "There has been an attempt on Uzumaki Naruto's life."

The air around Sarutobi hardened. "Continue," he ordered.

"The attack was no fatal. However, his vocal cords seemed to have lost function and his eyes have been gouged out. ...there was a lot of blood."

Sarutobi tightened his fists. His aged knuckles popped. "Where is Naruto now?"

"Hiashi-sama is taking him to training area 68," the chuunin said with a note of confusion; the Hokage felt no need to enlighten him.

"Good. Naruto has no friends in the hospital," he thought aloud. He pushed the longing for Tsunade's return from his mind. "What kind of attack?"

The messenger hesitated. "A kunai was used, I think. That is all I could identify."

It could be Konoha shinobi, as sickening as the thought was, but enemy nin were also a serious possibility. Still, the weapon proved nothing. It could just have easily been a civilian. "Why are you unsure?"

"A stampede could have been more accurate. Much of the... boy's... skin had sealed, but my Dojutsu showed cuts beneath the surface. I've never seen cuts like that to compare, but they seemed more like kunai injuries than anything."

The skin was already healed, that was expected, but what the messenger had said could easily be twisted into something frightening civilians. More than anything, the fact that Naruto was still alive indicated the attack was civilian, or purely hate motivated. He didn't need stories spreading to make people fear the boy more. "You are not allowed to describe tonight's events to anyone but myself and the clan head. The order goes for any other witnesses." The thought of being so extreme wearied him, but Sarutobi needed this man to take it seriously. "This also carries the death penalties."

The Hyuuga maintained excellent composure, bowing with a neutral face.

_"_Where was the attack?" Sarutobi prompted.

"District Eight. He was found just south of the markets."

Sarutobi didn't spot any message in the attack occurring there; it was merely a pseudo-slum near where Naruto lived. Dig deep enough and one can put anything together, but people making messages want them to be loud and clear, lest their work go to waste. More evidence against it being a political strike. Circumstantial, but still, he could use it to eliminate suspects. Sarutobi mused through his list.

He finally asked, "How long since the attack?"

"I could not tell you from the way his injuries heal."

Sarutobi nodded. "Be ready for your clan leader's orders, treat this as an emergency situation for the Hyuuga. I'm beginning a sweep of the area. I will discuss the matter with him once Konoha Police and my agents are coordinated."

"Yes sir." The Hyuuga bowed and ran out of the office and down the corridor.

The Hokage swept from his office to the secretary's desk. In the half-light spilling from his office he leaned over the desk its front he retrieved a headset. It activated with a fuz, red lights blinking to life. He cleared his throat and began, "ANBU and Konoha Police be warned, there has been an assassination attempt, time of attack unknown. Districts 7 and 5, join those in District 8. Sleeper units activate and strengthen the outer interception patrols."

The radio crackled back at him and a deep voice said, "D-7 patrol, orders confirmed."

A rare female voice followed, "D-5 confirms as well, converging."

"This is a state 4-c emergency, state 4-c-e."

-ii-

Itachi listened to the orders fuzzing through his ANBU radio.

_'Two teams converging on my position? A 4c emergency' _

The three tomoe of his Sharingan spun lazily in the downpour.

'_Interesting,_' he thought. The spin accelerated.

-ii-

"This is Patrol Command, awaiting orders Hokage-sama," a young and uneasy voice said in his headset.

_'Rookies must be out tonight,' _thought the portion of Sarutobi's mind not planning or raging.

"I need a private link," he said. He caught the sound of papers shuffling. _'An instruction manual?'_

"It's just us talking now," the young voice replied a moment later.

"I need secure connection 4."

"Um, one moment..."

Sarutobi suppressed the impulse to rush into the night while he waited.

"Sir, the receiver of the call is not listed for that line," the controller said.

"It's not supposed to be," he replied - a touch too fiercely, he decided.

"Hai!" the controller shouted back. "Encrypting now, sir!"

The Hokage flexed his jaw to release tension.

"Connection established, I can no longer hear, sir."

"Hokage-sama," the contact said.

"Tenzo, it's not like Uchiha Itachi to fail his post; he was patrolling District 8. We may have a very poorly timed 'Uchiha incident'."

"I... see." A brief silence passed before Tenzo continued, "I thought he, of all people, was normalized."

"Appearances may have misled."

"Understood," Tenzo ground out. "I'm on my way." The click of the line disconnect followed.

It took the Hokage a little fiddling with the headset to reset the privacy filter. He returned it to his head and prompted, "Controller?"

"Hai!"

"Contact Houraisan Saesha, ask her to accept visitors at training area 68. Tell her I will be meeting her there shortly."

"Yes sir."

"Tell her 'no delays'."

"Yes sir."

"And do it respectfully. For your own sake."

"Yes sir," the answer came a little frail.

The Hokage removed his mic, secured his hat, and abandoned his office for the rain drenched night.

-ii-

Tenzo performed the hand seals for his visual melding jutsu. It was one of the few jutsu subtle enough with its chakra to avoid being a beacon to a Sharingan. In truth, it did little to hide him from an intent observer, but he would take every advantage.

He began moving from alley to dark alley. The thought of fighting a destabilized Uchiha - despite how many times he'd done it before - still sent his heart racing. Itachi was a particularly dangerous ninja, even at fourteen, and few had ever fought against his uncorrupted Sharingan.

The idea of a 'pure Sharingan' was oxymoronic. All Sharingan were corrupt or corrupting. The only thing that made Itachi's Sharingan different was the fact it was more dangerous, capable of taking more innocent lives than the Faded Sharingan the rest of his clan were stricken with. Tenzo had heard many stories of the clan threatening coup, claiming the Hokage had caused their dojutsu's weakening. He'd even heard some Uchiha talk about the time before the Fading, like it was their glory days. Like the Fading had stolen something good from them.

Streets passed by as he considered various scenarios and contingencies. The slum nature of District 8 played to his advantage, as well as the rain. It would keep people away, safe.

Several minutes later reach an intersection near the target, scanning each road in turn. He climb up an overfull dumpster and onto the roof instead of jumping - less chance of his chakra being detected. At the far edge of the building he took a breath, readied himself, and then scanned the intersection below.

His target, identified by the stylized markings of his animal mask, stood completely motionless in black ANBU robes. His head faced away; he probably hadn't noticed Tenzo yet.

He slid back and held in a curse. 'Completely still' could be a bad sign, maybe Itachi had destabilized. But his inspection didn't reveal any further warning signs. He couldn't be sure until the Uchiha was exposed to some stimuli. Tenzo let a breath slip from his lips.

Rain water began pooling unnaturally in front of Tenzo. It rose and took the form of the Hokage. Tenzo indicated the Uchiha's direction with a tip of his head. The Hokage nodded and placed his lips by Tenzo's ear.

"I'm meeting him now."

"He appears to be unstable," Tenzo breathed back.

"It's good to be on your guard, but don't cloud your mind with the past."

The words stung - if they had come from anyone else Tenzo would have ignored them, but this was The Professor. He pinched his eyes shut and nodded, and then looked to the image of his Hokage. The water clone gave a firm nod back that said 'get back to action', then the clone melted back into its element. Tenzo readied himself. A moment later the Hokage's voice echoed up through the rain.

"Report," the Hokage ordered. Now was the moment of truth.

"Teams D-7 and D-5 have not arrived yet. I have seen no one in the area, but I have remained stationary," the Uchiha said, voice muffled by his mask.

"Why have you done this?" the Hokage asked.

"I assume you want to check my mental state." It was not a question.

"Where is your partner?"

"ANBU allowed him the day off, feeling confidence in the peace of the night and my sanity," Itachi said.

_They were wrong on at least one account,_ Tenzo thought, his heart rate climbing.

"This is an issue," Sarutobi said the key phrase.

Tenzo sped through nine hand seals and peeked around the corner to mark the target's location, then pulled back and activated the jutsu. Chakra flowed from him as Mokuton forced seedlings to shoot up around Itachi's feet. In an instant they wrapped their way up his legs into a full body bind. The limbs thickened. Tenzo re-suppressed his chakra and peeked into the intersection to check his work. It earned a small smile.

The Hokage approached the Itachi with a hand glowing green.

-ii-

Hiashi flew through the forest, Konoha far behind. Trails of rain fell through the shrouded canopy, washing blood further into his clothes every time he splashed through them. He blew out a soaked lock of hair from his mouth and blinked moisture from his eyes as he targeted the next limb.

He burst from the forest's edge into a clearing, an open field filled with tall grasses that whipped in the wind. Then he waited. Then shivered and held the boy closer to keep him warm, eyes scanning the night. He could go no further, not until allowed.

After a few minutes she appeared in the distance. Her diminutive form only came up to Hiashi's shoulders. Rain washed from her wide hat as she nodded to him. "Little Hiashi," her young voice greeted as she approached. A flinch slipped through his control.

"Saesha-sama, this boy is near death," he said.

"So I've heard," she said and her tongue tried to get some bad taste out of her mouth. "Saru had me informed. What's his name?"

Hiashi paused. He knew too little of how the woman's mind worked to predict or guide her reactions. He had few options anyway.

"Naruto."

She tipped her head to one side, causing rain to pour down the corresponding shoulder. A breath later she said, "Come," and returned the way she had arrived with Hiashi quick on her steps.

Soon three squat buildings arranged in a triangle came into a view. Saesha rushed through the door of the house, decorated in warm colors and light stained wood floors. They rushed between two smoking incense stands into an unlit living room. Saesha opened a trap door in the center where stairs led into blackness. She lifted her arm up, causing the baggy sleeve to fall away from her hand. The her hand bathed itself in fire chakra, an improvised torch, and they and descended. Hiashi would have preferred his Byakugan's sight to the wavering and insubstantial light she provided, but would not activate his dojutsu without permission, despite Uzumaki's body blocking each step from view.

It was the first time since he was a child that he had descend stairs blindly. He did so with aplomb.

The bottom of the stairs connected to a bare hallway. The light soon revealed a door marked 'Waiting' which Saesha held open for Hiashi. They headed through the furnishings straight toward a second door marked "Operation". Saesha placed her fire covered hand to an opening in the wall and then pumped her fire chakra in. It raced through the vein-like tubes tracing the walls and ceiling in spiraling designs. She continued until the light was at a medical level, revealing floors marked in several large and exotic fuuinjutsu matrices.

Saesha pointed to the center of one such elegant seal and ordered, "There."

Hiashi complied.

"Leave now," she said without looking at him. He headed for the door, but paused and glanced over his shoulder. He should be allowed to inspect, he decided as he watched her fly through seals. Saesha slammed her palms into activation points lighting the fuuinjutsu in a wash of green. Hiashi took one step out of the door, but held it open. She sent him a glare and he finnaly let the door close.

His brow creased slightly. He closed the lids on his pale violet eyes. Many things needed considering. Who would be attacking the demon boy? What did it mean for the future? A Junchuuriki was critical to Konoha's future, and possibly the Hyuuga, Hiashi decided. If he survived.

-ii-

Despite the sudden resurgence of a dead bloodline, and being completely bound by it, Itachi remained calm. Before the Hokage removed his ANBU mask Itachi released his Sharingan. The world faded to dreary smudges that normal vision offered on such a night. The Hokage placed a softly glowing palm on his revealed forehead.

When the warmth left he asked, "Does that satisfy you, Hokage-sama?"

The leader of Konoha nodded and said, "Wait until the D-7 and D-5 teams arrive, then join me at the center of training ground 68."

"Yes sir," was Itachi's soft response. "May I reactivate my Sharingan?"

With the question Itachi felt a subtle spike of chakra, the same one he felt as he was bound. His eyes narrowed slightly.

"You may," the Hokage allowed.

Itachi spun his dojutsu to life, allowing him once again to enjoy the night. He briefly studied the Hokage's parting back, then replaced his mask. He gave the streets a discreet visual sweep. Nothing was revealed; his eyes narrowed further. With a deep breath Itachi crossed his arms beneath his robe and tipped his head forward to better shed the rain, and waited.

The water clone melted back into the downpour, orders delivered to Tenzo: 'observe Itachi until the other squads arrive'.

Several minutes into the wait a dark figured appeared far down a nearby alley, swatting at the rain. He stumbled and dropped to his knees. He lifted himself shakily and as he neared; Tenzo made out a kunai in his clenched fist. Tenzo tensed, his breath held and reflexes coiled.

Itachi, however, remained unmoving. The man closed the distance between him and the Uchiha until they were in the same alley.

"Don't come closer," Itachi ordered before his his robes flicked; a tagged kunai planted itself between the two men. Tenzo averted his eyes. The tag ignited in a great white burst. The familiar report of a flash-bang rung his ears.

His hands shot through the binding wood jutsu as stars faded from his vision. He held back the final seal as his vision finally cleared, checking the situation. The stumbler lay mid-seizure in the mud. Then the man stilled. Tenzo turned his focus to Itachi.

Itachi did not make a further move. Nor did Tenzo. He simply turned his head to look back the direction it had faced previously. Tenzo could not check the body, see if the man was dead; even the life of a civilian was not worth his discovery. Another died thanks to the Uchiha. Tenzo grit his teeth.

-ii-

Heart: _'Strong.'_

Liver: _'No major toxic spills.'_

Lungs: _'Blood clots, mild signs of burning, no punctures: Functional.'_

Houraisan Saesha's hand, covered in chakra from her diagnostic jutsu, moved to the boy's head.

Frontal Cortex: _'No concussion, mild swelling, no immediate danger._'

Abdomen: _'Extensive burning and inflammation, irregular sub-dermal serration and muscle tears. ...odd.'_

Internal jugular, anterior jugular, and carotid artery: _'Undamaged.'_

The surrounding muscle tissue: _'Extensive burning, scattered sub-dermal serrations, severe inflammation.'_

Eyes:...

Saesha ran the diagnostic over the region. Switched jutsu. Attempted direct chakra system stimulus. "Hell," she hissed.

-ii-

Hiashi carried Uzumaki from the operating room. He was careful to set the boy's head on a pillow as he placed him on the resting room's bed. Saesha came in behind him and covered Naruto's bandaged form with a light medical blanket.

For Hiashi, Naruto was a key to a political blockade. Since the Hyuuga's rise to the uncontested greatest clan in Konoha many of the minor clans had banded together with the sole discernible purpose of stalling every political move Hiashi made. Positions had been barred to Hyuuga who had overwhelming qualifications, genin team assignment recommendations had been doggedly opposed, and even minor adjustments in defensive shinobi deployment patterns had hit the political wall. It was senseless paranoia, and it was effective. Naruto could provide the key. Even if the minor clans refused to see, with the Hokage's support behind him Hiashi could pass many critical political agendas that benefit both the Hyuuga and Konoha as a whole. But, while Hiashi's mind was figuring out how to play the situation to his greatest advantage, another question was disruptively pushing its way through his thoughts.

He averted his eyes from the boy and asked, "Will he see or speak?"

"He will speak-roughly, for a few days, but back to normal by week's end," Saesha said.

Hiashi turned his gaze to her youngish face, prompting her to finish answering the question.

"Little Hiashi-"

Hiashi's jaw tightened.

"-would you check something for me? Activate your eyes and look at the chakra vessels in the boy's eyes."

Hiashi formed the hand seals deliberately slow, but thought better part way through and finished at normal speed. The world deepened, his eyes touching every part of the surroundings... the home was truly unique. Hiashi focused his mind away from the many fuuinjutsu and luminescent pathways tracing through the structure and on to the demon vessel's anatomy.

"The chakra pathways in his eyes are dark." Hiashi's tone hardened, "There's nothing flowing through them."

"I... thought so," Saesha said in a low tone. "Release your eyes please."

He complied. For Hiashi this was a very, impacting, development. A blind Jinchuuriki. That would change some of the future plans the Hyuuga clan had compiled.

"I will wait to give the Hokage the full report," Saesha said, indicating with her hand for him to leave. "I won't explain it twice; you may listen in."

Hiashi pulled the door shut behind him, a scowl pulling at his face. He moved to the chair he had occupied during Uzumaki's treatment but remained standing. Though the eye-gore hadn't turned his stomach in a visceral reaction when he found the boy, he still found something unsettling him on a deeper level. The memory of his long deceased wife, something he rarely heard from these days, asked, _What if it had been our daughters?_

Hiashi pushed such thoughts away. They weren't what he should be thinking about. But he found he couldn't banish all of the dark mood that had come over him.

–

To Be Continued

Author's Notes: It's been a while, baby!


	2. The Midnight Hour

Tenzo eyed Itachi from his perch on the roof. Rain beat down, rattling away minutes into the deepening night. The target had hardly shifted weight from one leg to the other. Tenzo wasn't going to relax, to lighten his scrutiny, even if the Itachi was so stil-

Itachi put a hand under his masked and scratched. The hand dropped back under the robes.

Tenzo blinked. How... human. The thought struck an uncomfortable cord. Tenzo tried not to think on it, and scanned for the two teams supposed to arrive. He couldn't hardly see, thanks to the rain, and certainly couldn't hear them before the six ninja landed in the center square. The largest ninja, a musclebound man wearing a bandanna hitai-ite, looked ready to tackle the Uchiha if necessary. His female partner however, seemed far too relaxed. The other two men, one Hyuuga and one Aburame, looked about the same as those stoic clans always did. If they were wise, Tenzo thought, they'd be just as ready as the biggest.

The Hyuuga spotted the corpse of the stumbling bum in the nearby alley. The woman stepped up to Itachi and began asking questions; though Tenzo couldn't make out the words, he assumed it was the standard list. Itachi's answered, expressionless.

The Aburame joined the Hyuuga and activated his radio. "D-5 reporting," the Aburame's voice fuzzed in Tenzo's ear. "We have a deceased, cause of death unknown. Potential suspect. No identification. Likely homeless. He carried a Kunai. We'll bring the evidence out of the rain."

No one responded. Tenzo tapped his radio to make sure it was working.

"Control? This is D-5, do you copy?"

"Maa, this is control," a response finally crackled back. "The previous controller is relieved. ...please repeat," the controller said, sounding as though he couldn't care less.

Tenzo recognized the feigned laziness. The old bird-based message system was always authorized by the Hokage, and were with due respect. Since Konoha had begun using radio technology, though, some of the ninja had trouble following orders delivered by the greenies given the radio job. With Kakashi in charge, though, you wouldn't find any loyal ninja brushing off his orders. ...not that the lazy tone helped any. Tenzo smiled.

Questioning lasted for several minutes. The woman thrust a finger at the alley and pushed into the Uchiha's space. Maybe she would be a good investigator... Her over-sized partner stood nearby, trying to look intimidating. Everyone was entirely too relaxed. Tenzo, at least, kept his hands no more than a few inches apart; if he needed to form a seal, he was ready. Finally the questions concluded. The woman gave repeated Itachi's orders to find the Hokage near training area 68. Itachi leaped to roof and off into the night.

Tenzo had played his part here. Like a fine weapon brought out only for greatest needs, he was to return to the sheath. The Hokage would contact him for a report. Until then, he would return to his apartment. Tenzo edged back and slipped into the rear alley.

-ii-

Naruto felt consciousness flicker toward him. He tried to move, but his arm didn't listen. He tried again. He settled for just breathing. Soon he slipped under.

-ii-

Itachi's landed from the tree line into the open field, and bowed. The Hokage nodded to Itachi, ordering him to follow, and they set off through the tall grass. A few squat trees passed them by, swaying, before they came upon three structures Itachi knew. Inside they went into a living room devoid of light except for that which came from the stairs leading down. Itachi was familiar with those stairs, even more so than the rest of the house.

Down the hallway and into the room marked "Waiting" he followed, stepping in behind the Hokage. His breath calming as he glanced around the room. An EverYoung and Hyuuga-sama were both here. Upon seeing him, brief amusement flash across Saesha's face before returning to her somber expression. Hyuuga-sama's face just barely reflected the grave atmosphere, but he didn't seem to recognize Itachi behind the ANBU mask.

"How is he?" the Hokage asked immediately.

The EverYoung turned her eyes to Itachi. "Agent, guard the boy," she said, inclining her head to a door with a small black kanji for 'Rest' above it. "You would do well to keep your Sharingan off."

Hyuuga-sama narrowed his eyes and glanced to the EverYoung. Itachi did not obey, however. She was not the Hokage. Killing intent began to play its way up Itachi's spine. Itachi still refused; the intent swelled, heavy, like cold lead poured down one's head and shoulders. Itachi turned his face to the Hokage. The Hokage nodded his consent. Itachi released his dojutsu and stepped past the EverYoung. Every sense was on edge to make up the difference. He stepped through the door and the last of the killing intent faded.

Itachi stared at the sleeping blond boy, then slowly rested his right hand in an equipment pouch.

-ii-

When the door shut Sarutobi turned to Saesha.

"He won't see again," she said.

The Hokage let his face become a mask, an old habit he used when digesting horrible information. "What if Tsunade were able to treat him?"

Saesha scowled. "She _is_ better than me, but even she can't repair chakra vessels that have been so burnt out. The entire region is char, I had to cut a lot of black off before I found living tissue."

"Is the seal intact?" Hiashi asked immediately.

"Everything that I know about it says it's working fine."

The Hokage removed his soaked outer robe and laid them over a seat, then sat with care. Once settled he asked, "How did the chakra system burn out?"

Saesha scowled and took a breath before launching into her explanation, "From what I can tell the Kyuubi began pushing its chakra through the seal faster than it could be converted. That would be all well and good if the boy's system had had more years to adjust to the Kyuubi's chakra, but at this point it is still too foreign. Now, if the Kyuubi's chakra is mixed with the boys, it heals more than harms. But that wasn't the case when it got to the eyes. The mixture was off, too much Kyuubi and too little Naruto. At that point, it left severe burns wherever it tried to heal."

She paused a moment, tapping her lip, and then said, "I have a theory as to why the rest of him actually healed, and just the eyes burned." She glanced to the Hokage, and then continued without prompting. "If you're bleeding out of your neck and your torso is diced, you need to fix that to stay alive. You really need to stop bleeding before you need to see. I think the chakra was directed to heal the lethal wounds first."

Sarutobi eyed Saesha. Kushina never talked about how much the Kyuubi... interacted with its jailer, or even how intelligent it was in that sealed state. It hadn't seemed to influence Naruto, though. So maybe he didn't need to be concerned.

"I don't know if Naruto was directing the chakra," Saesha continued, "or the Kyuubi, or maybe-though I seriously doubt it-instinct. No matter, the things that needed to be healed for immediate survival were, and the blood loss from the eyes was stopped, but," she paused. The corners of her lips twitched down. "The boy will not see again."

"What about transplants?" the Hokage pushed. He would exhaust every option, for Minato and Kushina's sake.

"Is anyone willing to give the boy their eyes? Hiashi, I'm sure you'd be willing to give your heir's eyes?" she said. Hiashi scowled, causing her to snort. She continued, "Even if there was a donor, the burning extends back into the nerves too far. A transplant is useless. We'd have to carve the optical nerve out of the donor, reshape Naruto's eyes sockets, and heal the nerves together. I couldn't even reach the area without defacing the boy more. And then, because of the chakra burnout, the eye would atrophy soon anyway."

Sarutobi folded his hands, pressed his eyes together. The weight bored down on him. The worst hadn't happened, but at least Sarutobi had mentally prepared himself for that. This was a different kind of horrible, something he was completely unprepared for.

Still, he _would_ ensure Minato's legacy. He owed them that much, and more still. Much more.

-ii-

Consciousness flitted through Naruto's mind. And it _hurt_. He stirred.

His hands searched and found the sheet lying over him. His eyes wouldn't open; his hands sought why and found bandages restraining his eyelids.

Memories returned, a terrifying mosaic of the previous night. His heart pounded faster. In the center of picture, the memory that was the strongest: a red tipped kunai, right before it had gored his eye. He clenched the sheet. Everything was sore, ached. He gulped, and even that hurt.

"You are safe."

Naruto jerked away from the voice and fell from the bed. He hit a cold floor, scrambled back. The covers twisted around his leg, an attacker. He shook the leg, pushed away until he pressed against a wall. He pushed away, down the wall until he wedged himself in a corner. His tried to speak something, screaming or begging he did not know. Nothing came out. He turned his face away and through his arms up in defense.

"Relax, you are under protection," the same deep voice said.

Naruto's head snapped back around to face the voice, his breathing hitched less. He wanted to believe those words. Something told him they were fake. But Old Man had always been real with him. Naruto needed something, him, right now.

"Old Man," Naruto croaked.

"I... my voice recently changed. Is that what you mean?"

Naruto was silent for a moment, his mouth hung open. "Ho... kage," he eventually managed.

"He is just outside this door. Would you like me to get him?"

Naruto remained silent; _could_ the old man even be here? He dropped his arms and hugged himself, then swallowed.

"...you are safe," the deep voice said again.

Naruto held himself tighter, his skin bumping up with a chill. Naruto realized he was only in underwear. He didn't care.

"Are you angry with him?" the same voice asked.

Naruto shook his head.

Moments past in silence. Naruto tensed, listening for an attack. He held his breath, trying to hear every movement the other made, until he felt like he was suffocating. But he risk it.

"I have _made _it safe," the voice said like the world would do what he told it to. It hit Naruto like a splash of water. "The Hokage has made it safe," the man added a moment later. "Would you like me to get him?"

Naruto trembled, then nodded. The movement of cloth, the light touch of ninja sandals across the floor, the sound of skin being placed on a metal handle, all were acute in the abandonment of the room. The door swung open and then clicked shut, leaving Naruto in his sea of darkness. His arms, mindless, without command, untangled the blanket from his leg and wrapped it around him.

The door opened, but he couldn't hear footsteps. Naruto faced the sound and stopped breathing again. Someone released a long breath from their nose.

_'...like, a sigh.'_

"Hello Naruto," a recognizable voice said just as the old man's scent reached him. The way the old man said it... was like how Naruto felt that night. He knew they would be as mean as aways, but still hoped maybe, just a little, he wouldn't be hated on his birthday this time. Even if he _knew_ his hope would be crushed. That's what the old mans voice sounded like. The feeling made Naruto's stomach turn.

"Old man," he croaked no louder than a whisper. His expression rose - hope - but then fell.

"The Hokage is here, do you feel safe now?" the unknown voice asked. Naruto didn't answer.

The old man took a deep breath and said, "Naruto, do you still want to be a ninja?"

He snapped to attention. "So my eyes will be fine? They're going to get better?" he begged.

"No..." the Hokage whispered.

"Yeah they will, that way I can be a ninja!" Naruto ignored the pain in his throat. "I'm gonna be a great ninja! I'm gonna-"

"You can," the Hokage cut him off, "but your eyes will not get better."

Naruto's mind was full of promotions, an older version of him wearing a confident smile, blue eyes lit by the sun. He brushed aside the attempt to shatter it.

"Naruto," the unknown voice said.

"I'll hit 'em from twenty miles away, and-"

"Naruto," the voice said again.

Naruto paused and looked at him.

"Your eyes are gone."

Naruto's mind ignored that. He could see his confident smile. And maybe a Hokage hat, then he could finally fiddle with those things that dangled off it all he wanted.

"We need to figure out what's going to be the best for you now that you're blind," the Hokage said professionaly.

The cotton pressed to Naruto's eyes moistened. His mouth turned down.

"No!" He shouted. "No!" He pulled the sheet tighter around him. "No!"

"Naru-"

"No! No _no!_" It stung, blood tickled the back of his throat. His next "no!" shot it into his mouth, warming his lips.

"Stop speaking!" a woman shouted over him. Footsteps rushed toward him; Naruto braced. His throat tingled - a healing technique, he knew. The pain in his throat eased. "Don't talk any more, understand? You nod or shake you head, _gently_, if you need to talk at all. _Nothing_ _else_."

Naruto nodded,, and tried to keep his his tears hidden.

After the healing feeling left she said, "You may talk to him again."

"Naruto, do you still want to be a ninja?" the Hokage pressed.

Naruto didn't really hear what the Hokage said. He pressed the heels of his hands into the bandages over his eyes.

"Don't do that," the woman said and pulled his hands away.

He filched violently at the contact, then yanked his wrists from her grip.

"Are you crying," she snapped.

Naruto didn't answer.

"Are you crying?" She repeated a touch more gently.

He nodded, barely.

The woman stood up and shouted, "You two, out! Out-out!"

They shuffled out without a second word. When the door shut the woman grabbed him and lifted him into the air, making his stomach turn. Naruto started to squirm but she slapped his hand. He jerked back and his breath froze. Then she set him on the bed. With whooshing and a whip of air a blanket lay over him, and Naruto let himself breath. Just a little.

The woman started to say something, but it turned to a sigh. She started again, but didn't finish. After a moment or two more she walked out, the door clicking behind her. With no one there tight feeling lessened, and Naruto uncurled. He could breath deep. He didn't really feel like crying - not that he ever wanted to. Finally the words of the old man came back.

_'...still be a ninja?'_

Naruto's breath caught again. He had to be a ninja! But... could he? He wanted to clench his teeth in resolve. He wanted to shout it. It would take a lot of effort. He'd do that in a little bit. Right now, though, he might... have to... sleep...

-ii-

Itachi's eyes followed the woman as she shut the door to Naruto's room.

"He needs to wait a bit longer before you two have a shouting match," the EverYoung said to Konoha's leader. "You can worry the kid with the details later."

The Hokage creased his brow and nodded.

Hiashi stood and approached, his face relaxed. "Hokage-sama," he interjected, "I would like us to reconsider where the boy will be staying long term."

The Hokage paused. "We can do that later. For the time being Naruto will stay with the EverYoung. Right now I need to focus on capturing the assailant, and showing him some justice at Ibiki's hand. Saesha, please help repair the boy's psyche. He needs some stability."

The EverYoung nodded a bow.

_'...not deep enough to be respectful,' _Itachi thought. He hadn't seen the EverYoung around Konoha's leader, but he expected more reverence. Though, considering how she acted in the past, it wasn't a surprising. Itachi's eyes flickered down in though, and then back up.

The Hokage pulled his robes tighter and moved toward the door. Itachi opened it for him and asked with a bow, "What are my orders, Hokage-sama?"

"Stay and guard Naruto until I give you further orders. Obey Saesha, unless she orders you away."

"Hai," Itachi replied.

Saesha frowned harshly at the both of them. She traced her lips with her index finger and then said, "Whatever you're playing at, Saru, I'll play along."

The Hokage grinned... _impishly? _It was a bit unsettling.

A moment later and the grin was gone, replaced with power and professionalism as the Hokage. He left and Hiashi followed, his aura of authority nearly as strong.

Itachi stared after them for a few moments before returning his attention to room's only other occupant. She had her hip cocked with her hand placed on it, her eyes directed to the side, indicating recall. Her eyes moved to him.

"Touch the boy and I'll kill you. I don't let people touch my patients. Unless, you know, if the patient is punching them. Then it's okay."

Itachi's mouth quirked behind his mask.

-ii-

Itachi stared into the pearly shell of his Vita-Lite Soldier pill and rolled it between his thumb and index finger. He had eventually sat while guarding the medical room and indulged in one of the weak soldier pills already, and now pondered biting into a second.

He tipped his mask up and placed it in his mouth and savored the flavor before allowing it to escape down his throat.

His impulse, due to the often repeated habit, was to activate his Sharingan after ingesting one. After so much repetition the fresh rush of chakra seemed to flowed there automatically. It was with some difficulty that he prevented his dojutsu's activation. For a moment he wondered if this was anything like the rest of his clan experienced, but then discarded the thought. The distraction caused his Sharingan to partially appear. He lowered his mask, closed his eyes, and blew out a deep breath until the feeling of pressure the Sharingan produced faded.

The click of the door mechanism snapped Itachi's eyes back open. A spiky mess of blond hair poked out, followed by the distinct whisker-marked face of Uzumaki Naruto. The boy turned his head slowly, listening across the room. The moment Itachi took his next breath the boy's head jerked his direction.

"Who are you?" Uzumaki asked, voice far from healed.

Itachi's eyes traced a whisker before he answered, "Uchiha Itachi."

The boy's eyebrows rose above his bandages, drawing Itachi's attention. "Am I in trouble?" The boy asked and swallowed, causing himself to cringe.

"No." Itachi assumed the boy was intimately familiar with how many Uchiha were in the police force, due especially to his pranking record.

The eyebrows dropped behind their cover. "Oh. ...You're that guy from earlier, right?"

"Hai," Itachi answered and ignored the rising temptation to enjoy a third vita-stim. After a pause he asked, "do you recognize me by my smell?"

"Naw, your voice. Are there chairs in here?" Then he asked more quietly, "What's going on?"

"Saesha-sama said you must rest."

He lowered his head. "Yeah... okay," he near-whispered, and then returned to his room.

Itachi placed his hand in the pack containing his vita-stims and played one between his fingers. After a moment's deliberation he removed an empty hand and began practicing the transition between two obscure hand seal.

-ii-

Hiashi stood next to the Hokage at the ANBU investigation headquarters. Harsh fluorescent lights bathed the corpse of a middle aged drunkard. His body reeked, from life, not death. A Police enforcer was acquiring dental records with a mold and the best pair of Hyuuga eyes were inspecting the darkened chakra system-best Byakugan for the job, not the best. He didn't have the fastest eyes, and his peripheral vision was surprisingly limited, but his were the sharpest.

"There are light signs of chakra entry on the left side of the laryngeal prominence, aside from that, nothing," the lower ranking Hyuuga reported.

"And his eyes?" Sarutobi specified.

"They are stressed, some of the neuro pathways are burnt out, but there is absolutely no traces of chakra entry there. You should know that the chakra vessels in his stomach, adrenal gland, and rage centers of the brain have all been stressed and are causing the surrounding tissue to degrade at an accelerated rate."

Hiashi's Byakugan could see no such thing but that didn't surprise him. He _was_ surprised by the self assuredness of the branch member; it spoke well of the Hyuuga clan in front of Konoha's leader.

"Anything else?" Hiashi demanded.

"No sir, nothing I would call relevant to the investigation. His liver shows severe alcoholism, he probably had a lower back injury when he was young, but nothing involving chakra or an obvious ninja source. He's never molded chakra in his life. That is what makes any foreign chakra entry so apparent." He turned to Sarutobi. "I am confident this is the best I have to offer."

"Thank you," the Hokage said, teasing the barest hints of a smile from Hiashi's lips.

Its existence was short. "Dismissed," Hiashi declared and turned his attention back to the corpse without a second glance.

"Hai!" The branch member bowed swiftly and left.

When he was gone Hiashi furrowed his brow and turned to Sarutobi. "You will have our full compliance throughout the investigation, Hokage-sama. Will this be handled by the Konoha Police or ANBU?"

"A Limited Joint Operation for the time being," Sarutobi answered. The single light source enhanced the many wrinkles Hiashi had seen find their way onto the Hokage's face over the past decade. Hiashi looked away.

Having finished the dental mold the police officer collected a hair sample, stowed it in a baggie, and retrieved the fingerprinting kit.

Hiashi furrowed his brow deeper. "Joint. That means three parties are involved. That's not going to be very efficient."

"...True, but it won't be that way for long. Right now everyone is needed to lock down Konoha and search for more suspects."

The police officer placed the corpse's finger on an ink pad and rolled it. He then placed it on a special paper, then repeated the process with two more fingers, and then placed them and a kunai each in their evidence bags.

"I'm going to announce this matter classified," the Hokage said. "If you will, Hiashi-sama, please use your clan's gifted eyes to the best of their abilities."

"Hai. They will be posted throughout Konoha and the perimeter as well."

Hiashi fully expected the Hokage to understand what an offer that was. The Hokage had ordered all the Hyuuga to alert without consulting Hiashi, and the Hyuuga did not appreciate being at the whim of anyone who wanted a good pair of eyes. To have his full clan do such a thing, Hiashi was nearly bending over backwards for the man. For the Hyuuga politics, however, there was much to gain.

Sarutobi nodded and swept from the room. Hiashi remained a bit longer, staring at nothing in particular before he also took leave.

-ii-

The police officer watched the Hyuuga clan head leave with a certain sense of relief and then returned to his work. The clipping of tweezers and the crinkling of plastic bags did not need to keep him company for long before his Inuzuka partner arrived clinging to a cup of tea.

"Where's your dog?" He asked offhandedly as he checked the dead man's pupils. They were dilated to the point of making the iris a tiniest band of brown around the outer edge.

"He's home for the evening, a 'breeding break'," she answered before crashing into the nearby chair in typical Inuzuka fashion.

The officer smiled. "O-ho, I bet that's hard for him."

"Him? Nah, it's hard for the bitches," she grinned and took a gulp of the rather black tea.

"So, do you have breeding programs, or is it all about 'true love' for the dogs?" he asked as he marked the baggies with their evidence codes.

His partner wrinkled her nose at the permanent marker smell and answered, "Breeding programs, though there is some personal choice involved. Mostly they just don't care."

She threw back the rest of her tea and grimaced at the heat, then stood as he recapped the marker. She moved over and gave the air a general sniff, then frowned and sniffed again.

"What?" He asked as he sealed the evidence box.

"I smell drugs," she said and pushed him aside to get to the corpse. When she leaned down and sniffed the body's armpit, then mouth, the officer was reminded of how glad he was that he wasn't born Inuzuka.

Her expression became dark, and, despite having expertise in the field, she declared "I don't recognize them."

-ii-

A/N: And here's 2!


	3. Path to Dawn

Well, with three chapters worth of goods show it's time to be more than just the silent man behind the curtain, ;D. This story was written in 2009, two years ago, me hearties. It's kind of a late Holiday present to those who slogged through my first attempts at fan fiction, people who have been waiting for around 2 years already.

There's more about that in my profile, but enough of that. I'm working on a super version of this story (and have been for a year or so). More on this later. Enjoy!

**Rated: T**, for intense situation

-ii-

The night of the attack on Naruto:

Naruto tried weakly to cover the stab wounds scattered across his body. He couldn't see the blood running from them but he could feel it hot on his hands. The kunai used against him was also leaving it's mark in his heart. Why again? Why? He had wondered this question before, but never so defeated.

_That man_ had disappeared suddenly, not long ago. His job had certainly looked finished by the time Naruto's eyes were nothing more than gore filled void. Crushing fatigue joined the blood loss.

However, since the man had gone there would at least be no new pain. The thought brought relief, just enough for Naruto to cling to.

But then something happened Naruto had never experienced before: the pain spiked. The new sensation felt like fire gushing from the wounds; the relief he had felt was vanquished.

He gripped his side and "looked" at the kunai entry point in shock. His mangled eyes could reveal nothing. The fire spread to other places he'd be stabbed, the cumulative effect forced his back into a spasming arch. The pavement was unforgiving to the motion and yet he didn't notice the layers of skin taken from his cheek.

Some time later, spreading from where the fire had first started, the pain abated. Then with every bit of relief the pain found it's way to his throat and lungs, concentrating. he fought the impulse to cough, afraid of what it would do to a slashed throat. He failed. He could not feel any pain in his throat over the pain that had already collected there, but his heaves caused the fresh skin over his stab wounds to break, only to be mended by a resurgence of that invisible fire; the cold downpour about him brought no relief.

Then even the pain in his throat lessened. His ears, his skin, they returned to perceiving the world around him.

But the fire was not done yet. It blasted into his eyes with enough strength to make Naruto scream, despite the exhaustion. The result was inhuman as the noise ripped through slashed vocal chords. It soon became sobs, sobs that he could not sustain either. He fell silent.

His breath returned a little as the fire in his eyes cooled. Then his ear's caught the sound of someone approaching, splashing in the heavy rain. His still seizing body prevented any chance of escape.

One thought ran through his mind: 'Is _he_ back to finish?'

-ii-

Hyuuga Hiashi strode forward, exuding confidence, superiority... and more than a bit of haste. The anniversary celebrations were shut down due to an impeccably timed downpour. Now he was cutting through back streets towards the family home with his heir flowing beside him. He felt proud of her, a little.

Yet she had been a social embarrassment to the Hyuuga that evening, shying away, bowing too low for those that did not deserve it, using that quiet voice that spoke of cowardice, or, at the least, weakness, but there had been some progress over the year.

_'She __**will**__ find the steel in her veins needed to lead Konoha's greatest clan'_, Hiashi thought and took a deep breath.

He turned the corner and halted abruptly. At the end of the narrow street, amongst trails of blood black in the night, a figure lay convulsing. Hinata's breath caught.

Hiashi hardened his expression and approached cautiously. It was a blond child, rare. A black shirt hung on him. Reddened skin could be seen through dozens of slits.

He had whisker marks on each cheek.

The demon vessel sucked for breath and pressed his palms into his eyes; blood ran out through his fingers.

Hiashi took a step closer and the vessel tried to scream; it was rasped and barely audible. When the boy's air ran out his chest spasm as he fought to refill his lungs. The suffocation became evident in the paling of his skin seen even through the blood smeared across his features. Finally the vessel managed a breath, only to have it forced out with another scream.

Now Hiashi felt something he had not since the death of his beloved: _her_ presence.

No, that was a foolish notion, but the suffering of this boy forced him to remember how _she_ would have reacted to the situation. It was almost like having _her_ near, if only for a moment – almost like _her_ eyes, full of sympathy, were there pleading for him to take action.

It was compelling.

Hinata emptied her stomach. "Na... ru..." she managed, vomit still clinging to her chin despite the downpour. The fear she felt at finishing the name, as though it would make this scene true, was clear on her face. "...to?" She finished.

For a moment Hiashi entertained the idea that she had so easily recognized the demon child because he had been perusing her, tricking her. It forced him to restrain a spike of killing intent. But no, Hiashi would have known, and the vessel was in the class a year behind his age group, offering him few opportunities to do such a thing.

Hiashi had not restrained his killing intent enough; the vessel frantically pushed himself away from the source and redoubled his grotesque attempt at a scream. He pressed himself into the alley wall, his face suddenly moving from terror to grief, then pain, and then back to uninhibited terror.

The sight again plowed up memories of his wife.

i~i

Hiashi strode from the hallway into the sunlight bathing the balcony off the Hokage tower. From here one could see the destruction the Kyuubi had brought, miles of trees flattened and gouges in the earth, stopping just short of the village structures where the Yondaime had challenged it two nights ago. Hiashi moved to stand next to his wife as she gazed out across it. He looked down at her trying to see what she was thinking, but the top of her head revealed little. Looking back to the landscape Hiashi took a deep breath and turned his thoughts to the meeting that had just taken a recess: deciding the fate of the Kyuubi and its vessel.

Before his thoughts got far however his wife looked up to him with hard eyes. "Don't do this," she said.

Hiashi looked down at her and creased his brow.

"We can't do this," she said again, levely.

Hiashi scowled. "This," he replied calmly, indicating the damaged landscape with his hand, "you want the biju to escape retribution for this when it is in our power to end its existence? The dead may disagree with you."

She lowered her eyes to her stomach, leaving Hiashi to think in silence for a time.

"We cannot do this," she said in as hard a tone as Hiashi had ever heard. He looked to her, hiding his surprise. His eyes strayed to the indigo highlights the sun showed in her dark hair. "Please," she asked, now pleading, "don't do this."

"Why?" He asked simply, his face a mask.

"He may not have anyone there trying to defend his life but that doesn't mean he shouldn't _live_," she answered and gazed at her swollen belly.

_'Thinking of our child's own life?'_ Hiashi considered. _ 'It would be a tragedy, after how hard we have tried, if the baby were to simply die after birth,'_ he concluded. _'-or be killed,'_ his instincts added; Hiashi's jaw tightened imperceptibly.

He scanned her again.

"You... are concerned about our child if we were to die?"

Her steely nod showed the battle she was fighting to keep her emotions in check. She wiped her eye with her palm.

Hiashi looked away; he would not intrude on her moment of weakness. He pretended to be deaf to a sniffle as he thought through the possible political repercussions if he should vote to keep the child alive. One think he knew, this was a matter of her heart. Few things were: her husband, her children, and now this orphan who's very body was filled with the monster that destroyed so much.

Finally, when she seemed to have regained her composure, he faced her and said, "I must return to the council now."

She nodded with trepidation.

He turned and strode away. Before he had stepped through the doorway her hand caught his arm. He turned back to her, his emotional mask as perfect as it ever was.

One last time she pleaded, "Don't."

Without reply Hiashi turned on his heals and continued to the council chambers; he knew how he would vote and it could not be against her heart.

-ii-

Hiashi signaled to the chuunin trailing them. They jumped into the alley; the sudden presence only strengthened the vessel's attempts to push himself through the alley wall. Hinata vomited again, though this time she had remembered to keep it a quiet affair.

"Hiashi-sama," the first of the chuunin clipped and bowed.

Hiashi blinked the rain from his eyes and said, "The Hokage will wish to know of this attempt on Uzumaki-san's life, report to him immediately. Tell him I am going to bring the boy to training ground 68 for treatment. Be swift!"

"Hai!" The first chuunin said and leaped onto the nearest rooftop to vanish back into the night.

Hiashi turned his attention to the second subordinate. "Take my daughter to the compound and do not part with her until she is safely in her room."

He nodded his head gravely and turned to the heir. Hinata wiped her mouth clean with a soaked sleeve and tried to pull her eyes from bloody boy before them. She nodded to the chuunin. The man picked her up and took off, disappearing shortly.

Hiashi turned his attention back to the vessel. The boy was no longer attempting to scream but his breaths managed to be just as loud.

Hiashi formed the seals for the Byakugan; veins bulged across his temples as the world wrapped into a panoramic image. The child's chakra system lit up, traces of a red, alien form of chakra racing through it. Behind his eyes a thick mass of the foreign chakra had collected until they were like two stars to the Byakugan. Looking down Hiashi could see woulds remained just below the surface of the skin, accounting for the blood.

"You might live, Uzumaki-san" Hiashi said in an overly formal manner. Leaning in close he caught the scent of sweat: heavy, especially for a prepubescent boy. "If you survive you will be in my debt."

The boy's face, though still tight with pain, became blank.

Then he suddenly grimaced and his body began shaking. Hiashi placed his hand behind the the boy's head to prevent him from smashing it on the alley wall as he convulsed.

When it passed the Hiashi picked him up bridal style and launched into the stormy night.

-ii-

Sarutobi stepped inside the Hokage tower and stopped, letting the rain water drip from him for a moment while he thought. Naruto's situation had certainly gone from bad to worse but it wasn't the end, and senses _could_ be compensated for, difficult as it may be.

With a deep breath he began climbing the stairs. He reached his office door and paused, hand outstretch half way to the handle. He pressed his eyes close; his eyebrows sank down his forehead.

He whispered, "I'm sorry, Minato." With a final fortifying breath his eyes popped back open and he strode into the office.

Tenzo appeared in a burst of smoke, bowing low. "Hokage-sama, I have done as you commanded."

Sarutobi exhaled, then said, "And what did you find?"

"A civilian stumbled into the intersection. Itachi order him to halt but was already throwing a flash-bang. It activated and the man seized, then died moments later. Itachi didn't react at all, sir."

Sarutobi sat at his desk and sat his dripping hat on the single empty spot on his desk, then moved his lips thoughtfully. Normally there would be a pipe there to be shifting around, but, as his tradition for the day was, he would have to suffice with just imagining it. It... worked, but was less effective for thinking purposes.

"Just as reported," the Hokage said.

"His calm was too complete," Tenzo continued. "This indicates he could have expected the events to unfold like they did."

Sarutobi shifted his mouth again and eyed his agent. "It is a possibility. How did you react?

"I was surprised. It is worrisome, sir."

"And how did you show that surprise? Was it on your face, or perhaps your body language? If you could not see his face, and considering the ANBU robes are designed to obscure movement, it is no surprise an expert ninja hid his reaction in that situation at twenty meters."

"There are too many questions unanswered. Sir, coincidences don't exist with ninja."

Sarutobi nodded. "Occasionally they do. Itachi has seen death, has been ordered to deliver death, and a flash-bang isn't traditionally lethal. I will put extra surveillance on him for the time being," he said. Withholding the detail of the chakra entry points on the neck was quite deliberate: while Tenzo was an excellent agent he didn't need encouragement in this area while his focus was needed elsewhere.

Tenzo tipped his head in acknowledgment when a knock sounded from the office door.

"I must continue with the investigation in other ways for the time being. Thank you for your report, your performance was excellent. Excuse me," he said and then shouted, "Come in."

Tenzo eyes lingered on the his Hokage and then he replaced his mask. An Inuzuka entered with her eye patched, one eared dog entered.

"Hokage-sama," she bowed swiftly. "I've discovered the deceased suspect was drugged with rare or unknown agents. I couldn't recognize them myself, but with Kuromaru's superior scent recall we were able to identify one of the substances."

Tenzo halted his exit and turned his masked face to the woman.

"Continue," Sarutobi ordered.

"Tatakai Reddo, a chuunin, used the drug in a political framing last year. It makes people angry. Very angry."

"A37a," Sarutobi addressed Tenzo with his code designation, "look through our records and see what you can learn from the reports on that mission."

Tenzo bowed and left.

"Report this to M14a."

"I don't know the ANBU-baka codes - sir," she said, a grimace distorted the triangular tattoos on her cheeks. Her dog sniffed, tipped his head, and sniffed once more.

"Hatake Kakashi," the Hokage explained, "He's running the radio, but I want you to tell him in person, and then report back to me."

"Hai!" She bowed and left, dog in step.

The Hokage flicked his hat, ridding it of the remaining water and placed it on his head.

_'How am I going to run this investigation?' _A short question with lengthy answers. So much rode on it.

-ii-

Something tickled. Naruto rubbed his nose and rolled over. The sun bathed the part of his leg stuck out of the sheet. He didn't want to wake, but... his throat hurt. He rolled onto his back and stretched his arms over his head. It hurt! Naruto pulled his arms down and rubbed the sore muscles.

It was that man's fault. Naruto hadn't even seen the face, but he remembered the cursing gravel voice. A bit of the horror of that night seeped out, and Naruto pressed his eyes closed. He'd had bad memories before, and he could make them go away. This one was worse than all the others. The feel of the kunai catching as it cut through...

Naruto shivered and jumped out of bed. "Hey!" he shouted. "Where am I? Hello? Hello!"

Someone came, steps pounding like in a wooden hall.

"You're going to lose your voice again, stop shouting," a woman said. "Hmm... on second thought, keep up the good work."

"Huh?"

"That's better. You hungry?"

"Yeah!" he shouted, then froze. Could he just eat her food? Would it even be safe? "Wait, what's your name?" Naruto's skin crawled.

"Saesha, and yours?"

Now was Naruto's cue to shout it to the world along with a declaration of his dreams. He didn't. "Where's the old man?"

"Old? Saru's not old, he's just winded – life's got him winded. Of course, most people die soon after that happens..."

Naruto's eyelids tried to open wide in shock. They may have not succeeded with the bandages and all. "...he's," he spoke, less than a whisper, "he's going to die?"

"Huh, yeah, they always do. Pretty soon too – like, ten years maybe."

Naruto mulled it over. The edge of shock sort of numbed, like stubbing your toe and then loosing feeling in your foot a moment later. "Oh." Ten years was a _long_ ways away. "How much is the food?" Naruto asked. After all, it would be a lot sooner than ten years before he needed food.

"Oh, cost? Your soul. ...I'm just playing with you. I'm always curious to see how people react to that one. The food is free, for you."

Half way through Naruto's confusion a smile broke on his lips. "Really! Wow!" He quivered. Again, he froze. "Did you put anything in it?"

"Food. Does that bother you?"

Naruto just looked her direction. She sounded _way_ too chipper.

"Go away; I'm not eating your stuff!" He shouted and Seasha's breath caught- "My butt was raw last time! II knew there was something funny tasting about that stuff the Inuzuka kid gave me, but I ate it any way. Well, that's not going to happen again!"

She broke into giggles. "Calm down, calm down. There will be no diarrhea, or any other bad reaction. Hmm, unless you body goes into shock from the surge of nutrition."

"We just studied nutrition; it doesn't do that, you're just trying to cover up a mean prank!"

"No, no, I'm saying you might have a bad reaction after all. Like growing."

Naruto's face lit. "Growing?" almost as if he'd won an Ichiraku gift card.

"Maa, you're not that short, kid. How old are you?"

"Nine!" Naruto said, thrusting his finger towards her voice. He poked something soft.

She pushed his hand aside and said, "You're right, you are a runt. Brat."

Naruto clenched his jaw and felt his face reddening.

"Hey, don't get mad at me, get mad at the food in the kitchen. You know, if you're really angry you should do something terrible to it, like grinding it between your teeth and submitting it to a bath of acid."

Naruto just face her direction. She stood and said "your prey is waiting," and plodded back down the hallway.

"...that was weird," the Naruto mumbled to himself.

-ii-

Naruto swung his legs from under the stiff sheets and stood. He'd had a few accidents in the past that he had hurt himself after by stretching too much, so now his stretch was tentative. Finding no pain he stretched at little more, bringing a smile to his face. And then a little more, but while his arms and legs felt fine his abdomen caught, earning a grimace. He strolled in the direction he'd heard the woman leave – and smacked into a wall. He rubbed his nose vigorously and clenched his restrained eyelids. With a little more caution he used his hands to guide him along the rough wood walls. His fingers located the doorway, which felt much like the wall just vanished, and stepped through. He reached out and found another wall, also rough, and began to follow it as well.

One, two, three doors he counted before the wall fell away. He caught the sounds of the woman working in the kitchen and headed that way. He neared but his knees hit something relatively soft and he fell forward. His face landed a cushion and his spine bent awkwardly as he realized he'd run into a couch.

His nose wasn't too pleased about it but it still hurt less than the wall.

Naruto and stayed there for a time as he controlled his breathing, then grumbled into the cushion. He swallowed and then rose and made his way around, fighting a frown off his face. Now as he made his way towards her he swept a foot in front with each step.

His toe met the table. He forced the cringe down and his mouth became a solemn line, the closest he could get to the grin he wanted. He reach out, found the low back of a chair, and drew it out and sat.

"That smells weird," Naruto said a moment later.

"A little, doesn't it?" She said from a few feet away.

"Not at all like ramen," he said while he used his hand to find the size of the table.

"That's good. If it smelt like ramen something would be very wrong."

"Very right," Naruto corrected and stood from his chair to feel the farthest edge of the table. "This table's pretty small, not like at the orphanage."

"We have a lot less people to feed," she said as she neared. "Stick out your tongue."

"What? No way, keep that battery away from me."

"You're a suspicious one, aren't you?" she said as she neared.

Naruto just put his head in his hands and mumbled, "When's the food going to be done? I'm _really_ hungry."

"After you stick your tongue out at me."

"Why would I do that?"

"...It's a ritual we do at this house."

Naruto curled his nose. "You're not going to touch your tongue to mine or anything, are you? 'Cus there's no way I'm doing that!" and shivered.

"Nope," she answered in good humor, then said, "Stick. Your tongue. Out."

Naruto had a plan: he'd pull his tongue in really fast, like when he would blow a raspberry behind mean people's backs. She wouldn't have a chance. He smirked a moment and then did it as fast as he could. ...She was fast enough, just tapping the end of his tongue with a finger before he'd managed to suck it back in. Naruto's let his lower lip stick out a _little_ further. "You're weird," he groused.

"Food's done!" she said back. She threw a cheap pair of chopsticks to at him and set something on the table with a thunk. Naruto had no trouble eating blind; maybe it was because he normally ate so fast that he couldn't see the food anyway. It wasn't as good as ramen though. Something seemed to be missing...

"Hey, why aren't you eating?" He asked with half a mouth full.

"I'm waiting for mine to cool." She sounded strained.

"You must be a sissy when it comes to heat." _'Odd'_, Naruto thought when he heard teeth grinding.

Twenty minutes and three bowls later Naruto asked, "So are you boring like those academy teachers?" He wiggled in his seat and wiped his sleeve across his mouth, then continued, "Because I wanna be an awesome ninja, but I don't think those boring teachers are going to be any help."

"First we're going to teach you how to be blind," the lady answered, breathless.

Naruto stuffed his reaction to the reminder down inside, but wasn't quite able to put on a smile. "I wanna be an awesome ninja, train me for that!"

"Hey brat, what's cooler than an awesome ninja?"

"Nothing! No, Hokage!"

"An awesome ninja that can kick butts blind. We'll learn that part first."

"A blind awesome Hokage," Naruto said.

"We need to check your bandages first and then you can train."

A grin slipped through despite himself. "Hai!"

-ii-

Sasuke sat on the floor with his back against the wall of his homes entry, moving through a series of hand seals. His mind lost itself in the rhythm of his breath and every nuance of his hands. He adjusted the rigidity f his thumb for the current seal, Bird, then moved to Ox. It was satisfactory (perfect), and he moved to Tiger. He narrowed his red eyes and relaxed his thumbs, who were the problem again. It needed to be exact.

He gave a low growl when he realized his had held his breath in focus. He restarted it's rhythm and focused his mind back to the Tiger seal.

He relaxed his thumbs again and adjusted the angle of his wrists. He tightened his jaw and didn't dare to blink the moisture running from his eyes. The droplet swelled and followed the path down his cheek. His vision cleared, and he checked his shape. Good, but his index fingers needed to point a little more-

Another drop clouded his vision, this time in the right eye. He threw his hands to his eyes and roared his best. "This is stupid! When is that woman coming? I've lost half my chakra!" He shouted and cringed; his prepubescent voice offended even his own ears.

Sasuke heard the measured footsteps of his brother approach and then stop outside the door. After a pause at the door his brother entered. Sasuke grit his teeth to force his eyes back open to scowl at Itachi.

"Don't complain," Itachi said neutrally.

"She was supposed to be here two hours ago," Sasuke replied and looked down to his hands, now folded in his lap. "I've kept my eyes open for almost four hours straight. When is she going to show up? She wanted me to stress my Sharingan for the checkup, but this is just stupid." Sasuke looked back to his brother to find that bland expression he often wore. "Hey, it's not like you know what it's like!" Sasuke said and palmed his left eye. "You don't have the Faded Sharingan. This hurts!" With his right eye watering too much Sasuke switched to rubbing it and looked at the towering figure of his brother with the left.

"She may have been held up. Saesha-sama usually arrives within the hour," Itachi said. What he really said was _' she may not arrive, use your skills to make your own decision as best you can, it is your choice.'_

Sasuke did, closing both eyes immediately. "Yeah, well, if this was all for waste then she's being stupid. It hurts and I shouldn't do this more than I have to, who knows when I'm going to go crazy," he peeked to see his brother's reaction to the prod.

Itachi gave a short breath and the corners of his mouth turned down slightly, the only indicator on his impassive face. Sasuke restrained a cringe. He knew what his brother was thinking, _'Saesha is the one working to cure the Faded Sharingan, the more you resist her the less likely she will be able to give you a permanent solution to the possibility of insanity'._ 'Possibility', he would always say, as if it wasn't a sure thing: without help Sasuke and every living Uchiha aside from Itachi would go insane. He also knew what Itachi would say to that: _'No one of our generation has become insane yet, the last generation has done much better than the one before it; there's no proof that you are going to go insane, Sasuke.'_ He would say it just like that too, always using 'Sasuke' at the end, his tone dropping. Sasuke didn't quite know why he did that, but it irritated him.

Sasuke shifted his tongue nervously and asked "Are you going to be with-" he bit off the hopeful tone in his voice. "-ANBU today?" He hoped, hoped that the answer would be 'no'.

"No, I'm to stay in the Uchiha compound for the time."

Sasuke tried to swallow back his excitement.

"Should I go to the academy, or..." he drifted off.

"I can train you today," his brother answered.

Sasuke allowed himself a big grin. In his best 'unaffected' tone Sasuke said "Okay," which probably didn't work thanks to the grin. Then he added, "But I need to rest for a little while and eat lunch and stuff."

"Hai," Itachi answered and offered his brother a hand up. Sasuke peeked and eye open and then took it, He headed to the kitchen with his eyes closed, never unsure of where to step. This was his house, his compound, and just like how he almost knew the academy, Sasuke knew every corner, every wall, every ledge with his eyes closed.

And he was going to train with Itachi. Maybe he'd finally get the compressed form of the Great Fireball jutsu Itachi had been teaching him. Something, half way between a smile and a smirk, grew on Sasuke's face as he prepare a lunch, eyes still firmly closed. Thankfully.


	4. Ice to Break

Happy New Year, everybody! Welcome back to the adventures of blind Naruto (beta-phase). ...Okay, I promise I won't make any more vague comments about this being the maggot-version of the story. Until we're close to the end of its run.

-ii-

"Sasuke, go practice your shuriken throwing. Your kunai aim is better but your shuriken work is falling behind," Kakashi heard the older Uchiha order tonelessly as he approached their spacious, traditional style home. "I have some ANBU business, don't return until I come find you."

"Hai," the younger brother replied reluctantly.

Kakashi eyed the door as he waited, feeling the sun's heat dissipate from his mask under the shaded entry. He stuffed his free hand in his pocket and took a cursory smell of the area when Itachi neared.

Itachi slid the door open and bowed to his superior.

"Do you have a privacy sealed room?" Kakashi asked from behind his mask, a bored tone dripping through his voice.

"Hai, Hare-san," Itachi answered, using the less formal way of addressing an ANBU in gear by using the animal depicted on their mask.

Kakashi followed him through his sparse home, distinctly lacking a woman's touch. The home also lacked any evidence of a hobby for either of the boys, unlike Kakashi's own bachelor pad. The few times Jiraiya-sama had come to visit he had certainly felt at home.

Itachi shut the door to a nondescript room that Kakashi assumed might have belonged to the boys' parents when they were alive. Privacy sound seals in a bedroom, eh?...

"The seals are set," Itachi said stiffly as a small set of fuuinjutsu markings appeared on each wall.

Kakashi scanned him with his lone eye and then began, official lingo first.

"You are currently connected to the assault of Uzumaki Naruto, and as such are being placed under investigation until your name is cleared. This is the first questioning of however many the Hokage and those under him sees fit. Your rights are as the Hokage sees fit, which he has currently left up to my discretion. Do you understand?"

"Hai."

"Good, now, can we get some chairs?" Kakashi asked, rubbing the corner of his clipboard into his back in an attempt to ease a feigned pain.

"Hai," Itachi replied humorlessly. He returned with two of the least promising bits of furniture Kakashi thought he had ever laid eyes on. He sighed behind his mask and sat, crossing a leg over his lap to support his notes. He removed the panel blocking the left eye hole of his mask and asked "Why were you patrolling alone?" Visual information flood into his mind. The quiver of the pail, previously unseen hairs on Itachi's upper lip as his breath moved over them, the stretch of the skin across the boy's collar bones that accompanied each inhalation, the subtle contractions in his pupils that accompanied thought.

"ANBU headquarters allowed my assigned partner the day off," Itachi said. There was no sign of lying; Kakashi knew for a fact that the information was true.

_'Good, I've got a baseline.' _He prepping the memory to compared to any of Itachi's future reactions, looking for the subtle discrepancies that revealed even a good liar. "Why?" He asked the Uchiha.

"They felt the night would be peaceful enough, or that I was competent enough; Inuzuka-san lost his wife in the bijuu attack and requested that he be allowed to grieve."

Kakashi clicked his pen thoughtfully. "Did you suggest that he should take the time off?"

"Hai, Uchiha are not the only ones who struggle with mental stability. Inuzuka-san was showing signs of stress, drawn eyelids, high amounts of caffeinated teas, and sighing regularly when he was around children. To strengthen Konoha it would be best if he were able to put the past issues to rest so he can function with a clear head."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes behind his mask.

"Okay... that was a rather blunt way to try and give me a hint. Let's return to the investigation, shall we?"

"Hai."

"So, an attempted murder happened in an abandoned district the night you told your partner to take a hike?"

Itachi wasn't phased, "Hai."

The extra level of perception given by the Sharingan was doing little good: Itachi's finger muscles weren't contracting unconsciously, nor were his eyes straying in slightest, nor his breathing anything more than a smooth rhythm at the exact speed suggested by ANBU trainers to keep the brain at its highest operation when at a resting level of exercise.

Kakashi rolled the pen between his middle and index finger. "After the Hokage performed the standard checkup for Uchiha you were approached by a civilian man, correct?" He continued.

"Hai."

"You managed to kill him with a flash-bang. Care to teach me?"

Itachi's dark eyes flickered to the side and back to his investigator, an obvious movement for a Sharingan looking for much subtler signs. Kakashi waited for a smile, or an answer, or a protest...

"Or not," Kakashi said dryly. "Do you know how the flash-bang killed him?"

"If I were to guess, it would be some sort of neurological overload," Itachi answered. Still no behavioral discrepancies.

"Okay... So, in an empty district on the night you told your partner to go take a hike a boy was assaulted and a bum _was_ killed, and then found by the other district teams with a bloodied kunai in his hand, and you're the only one left alive."

"Incorrect. In my scouting there were at least two couples and three single men in the district before the call of Uzumaki-san's attempted murder came over the radio."

If that was evasion Kakashi saw no tell indicating so.

"So, in an empty district on the night you told your partner to go take a hike a boy was almost killed and a bum was killed, and you are the only one in the _area_. Did that kunai belong to you?"

"No, and the Hokage did not detect any blood on me or it would have been mentioned earlier."

"Yes, because it's so hard to kill without getting blood on you..." Kakashi said absently, turning his head as though he was looking off while his Sharingan stayed locked.

"I saw Naruto after he had been bandaged up. It would be hard to do that without getting blood on you," Itachi answered.

"A Shadow Clone could do it and then disperse," Kakashi countered and turned his mask back to the boy.

"The checkup reveals chakra levels accurately; the Hokage could see that mine were too full to have used a Shadow Clone."

"And what of the other elemental clones?"

"I have a fire affinity; it would not be able to sustain itself in the rainstorm."

"Do you have a second affinity?"

"No."

Kakashi checked his information. It coincided. Even if he did have a second affinity, the chakra drain would have been much more noticeable than a primary affinity. He stuck the butt of the pen under his mask and used it to scratch his cheek, then asked too casually, "You could have had a fire clone attack Uzumaki before the rainstorm."

Itachi paused, then asked rhetorically, "Would Uzumaki have been able to live that long?"

Kakashi sighed and glanced at the list on his clipboard and then asked, "You regularly consume 'Vita-Lite' soldier pills. Were you using more than the recommended dosage the night of the attack?"

A slight shift under his mouth said he adjusted his tongue before he answering, "No."

"Did you use any the night of the attack? ...maybe to cover up the use of a Shadow Clone?"

"I used two after the checkup, but none prior, and the Hokage's diagnostic jutsu would pick up the increase in physical energy in the chakra had I used them beforehand."

"True, but maybe not if you only used one; those are very mild soldier pills." _'So mild they couldn't cover up a Shadow Clone,'_ Kakashi amended to himself. _'I will have to report the possibility to the Hokage either way.'_ He waited, studying Itachi's reaction, or the apparent absence. Kakashi shifted in his seat and glanced at the list of question before continuing.

"Speaking of chakra," he smiled to himself at the terrible transition, "do you blame the Kyuubi for the state of the village?"

"There are many things that have made the village the way it is, the Kyuubi was one of the more uncontrollable factors."

"In your opinion, is Uzumaki-san under the influence of the Kyuubi?"

Itachi was quiet. He then glanced down for a moment, and when he looked back up a half of a second later he answered plainly.

"No."

"Do you believe that your own, your brother's, or your clan's life would be better without Uzumaki?"

"I could not know that."

"Okay, but do you believe it?"

"Actions I can take are the things I consider; whether Uzumaki has existed or not is something I can't change."

"Okay, but do you _believe_ that your lives would be better without him?"

"No."

Kakashi considered marking the answers down, but decided it was too much effort. His Sharingan had all the information anyway if asked.

"Do you believe your lives would be worse without him?" He asked on a whim.

"If the Kyuubi was free from its jailer then yes, everyone's lives would be worse."

_'So he sees Naruto as a jailer?'_

"Do you believe your lives would be worse if Naruto and the Kyuubi were gone?"

"No."

"Do you believe your lives would be better if Naruto _and_ the Kyuubi were gone?" _'Might as well cover all the exits,' _Kakashi thought.

"Yes, as it stands now there might be a possibility that the Kyuubi can escape."

Kakashi, being uncomfortably familiar with that line of though, pushed ahead, "Do you believe that the Kyuubi will escape?"

"No."

"Why? I thought you were concerned with that?"

"If the Kyuubi could escape when its jailer is weak then it most likely would have escaped last night. If the Kyuubi can escape when its jailer is strong then it should have done so before now. If the Kyuubi cannot escape until its jailer's chakra system becomes wide enough to handle larger amounts of chakra, then it should be some time before that poses a threat, at which point the jailer should be capable of reinforcing the seal, reducing the threat."

"So, you just want it to never have the option?"

"Hai."

"Is it worth the price of Uzumaki's life?"

"It was worth the price of the Yondaime's life to seal it," Itachi answered without hesitation, "and is certainly worth the life of an academy student, or genin, or chuunin, to ensure that the slim possibility of escape is removed."

"Did you attack Naruto?" Kakashi asked, tired of dancing around the issue.

"No sir."

"Did you know of the attack or collaborate in any way?"

"No sir."

"Did you suspect an attack on Naruto?"

"Yes sir."

Kakashi sighed, "Oh?"

The Uchiha did not elaborate.

"Why?" Kakashi asked flatly.

"I have notice that Uzumaki-san is often, or rather accident's are occasionally arranged during the anniversary."

_'Ah.' _Kakashi thought. "Did you inform ANBU of your suspicions?"

"Hare-san, did you suspect there would be an attack on Uzumaki-san?"

"Yes," Kakashi answered reluctantly.

"Everybody who is paying attention should know, but wouldn't expect anything life threatening. Last year he dodged the crowds without incident, but we still suspected there would be trouble if he wasn't careful."

Getting more to the point Kakashi asked, "Did you suspect an attack of this level?"

"No sir."

"Did you suspect it would happen in your district?"

"No sir."

"Do you know why Uzumaki-san was in District 8?"

"Hai."

"And that reason is...?" Kakashi asked, allowing a little annoyance to color his tone.

"He frequents Training Ground 11; District 8 is between it and the orphanage."

_'Interesting...'_

"Why do you know this?" He asked, professional once again.

"I have been assigned to District 8 before."

"Okay..." Kakashi drifted off and considered. At length he asked, "Did you request to be assigned to district 8?"

"No sir."

"Do you know why you were assigned to district 8?"

"It statistically has had the least ninja activity over the past decade. Without my partner it was thought best that I patrol a milder district."

"Ah, but district 8 has high crime rates."

"Civilian crime rates, and few of those crimes are more than petty, sir. They would not prove difficult. Most of the repeat offenders in the area have previously attended the anniversary functions, and with nothing of interest to draw people to the district for the occasion it was deemed within my capabilities to handle the situation."

"So do you suspect ninja?"

"Hai."

"I see, is there anything else you wish to add?" Kakashi asked as he rose and stretched his lanky self, showing a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

"No sir," Itachi said, standing with Kakashi. He bowed shortly.

With the Hokage's office as his destination Kakashi walked out and said over his shoulder with a smile, "I'm off to make some more people uncomfortable!"

-ii-

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked.

"Yes I'm sure."

"Because it doesn't feel like a wolf," Naruto said back as he ran his hand over the figurine again.

"Of course it doesn't, it's a cut-up block of wood," Saesha answered as she applied another healing technique to Naruto's belly. She had forced him to lie down and take off the bandages after he woke up, but at least she said he would be less sore after she was done. Of course such promises did little for Naruto when faced with that overwhelming urge to squirm; which was probably why Naruto got handed the figurine.

"What is this?" Naruto asked, tapping on a peculiar lump.

"The eye."

"Oh! Then this is the neck, and this is the tail!" He grinned as she hovered her palm down over his belly button.

"It's only of the wolf's head and shoulders."

"Oh..."

Naruto began reforming a rough mental image as he continued feeling it out. Every time he thought he had it right he would go back over and realize the left ear was forward instead of how he imagined it, or he thought there was more of the shoulder than there was. The tingly healing sensation moved to his side and Naruto had to fight the urge to wiggle away. Naruto's inspection was interrupted as the tingle became an itch. Then Naruto's senses dimmed and he suddenly felt like the kunai was there, slashing across his stomach again. He could feel it as it broke through the muscle layer and then snag on his guts. He became deathly still and fought to hold back vomit. The sensation drifted away, and then returned again even stronger. He bit the inside of his mouth and squeezed his eyelids tight. A moment passed. He jerked her hand away and sat up, crossing his hands in front of his mouth. His stomached heaved; he clamped his mouth down harder.

"What's wrong?" She asked softly.

Naruto just shook his head and squeezed his eyelids tighter under their bandages. Tears slipped through anyway.

"Muscle memory; it's okay, it's just muscle memory," Saesha spoke as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well, not quite 'muscle memory', but it's a lot like it. Your mind associated strong stimulation there, which there normally isn't much, with the memory of the wound that was inflicted. Since we're healing it this way it's calling up that memory; that's a side effect that occasionally appears when using the Mystical Palm healing."

Naruto only caught the last of what she said as the experience faded. He pushed his toes under the covers.

"Can we continue?"

Naruto swallowed the bits of vomit that made it to his mouth, shook his head, and dropped his arms limply as he sought breath.

"I'll work somewhere else, is that okay?"

He didn't answer and instead just focused on the air moving in and out of his lungs to steady himself.

"If you want to be a powerful ninja these wounds need to be healed properly. I'll work somewhere where you're less likely to have that reaction."

A few moments passed before Naruto said, "Okay," determination on the edge of his voice.

The tingly sensation appear on his shoulder. He cringed. When those terrible feelings didn't return after a few minutes he licked his mouth like it was dry and reached shakily for the figurine to see if he remembered it properly.

A few more minutes later Saesha stopped abruptly.

"Someone's here. I'll be back; no doubt Saru's come to see you," she said with a smile in her voice, then walked off down the hall.

-ii-

Sarutobi walked through the sun soaked field, hat in his hand. A moment ago he had felt the tingle of the Houraisan perimeter seals designed to alert Saesha or her husband of any chakra signature's approach. It was subtle, like a phantom itch on the feet, but, if you knew what to look for, it was recognizable enough. Two nights ago he hadn't noticed it in his rush and mildly reprimanded himself for the slip.

He approached the door to the home and waited, straightening one of the tassels on his Kage hat that had become tangled. When he heard her near he returned it to his head and smiled as she opened the door.

"May I come in?" He asked cordially.

"Of course, you're always welcome," Saesha said as she stepped back to allow entrance.

"Not for the first six years I wasn't," he said back lightly.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, we've forgiven you now, so you're fine," she said offhandedly and led him past the overstuffed furniture adorning the living room and down the hall, the sunlight coming through the small hallway windows complimenting the home's many warm tones.

Saesha opened the door to reveal Naruto pulling a black shirt on over pink skin. They stepped inside the room and Sarutobi took a breath.

"Hello Naruto," he greeted as he tucked his hat under his arm – he just couldn't quite figure out what to do with it.

"Hey old man," the boy replied despondently.

"How are your injuries?"

"They're getting better," he said without enthusiasm as he fiddled with a carved wolf head, picking at a crack with his index finger.

Sarutobi frowned. "Have you had any ramen lately?"

That did the trick; the boy's face lit up and looked expectantly to his grandfather figure. "Can I have some?" He asked, his voice climbing too high for aural comfort.

"After you're healed up I promise either Saesha or I will take you."

His enthusiasm was dimmed only slightly.

"You know what else I hear?" Sarutobi continued.

"What?" He asked, following along anxiously.

"That when you close your eyes, your other senses get sharper, like how you can hear every creak when you're trying to fall asleep: imagine how much better your sense of taste will be after all this time."

Sarutobi almost regretted that as Naruto exploded off the bed in excitement. He jabbered on about how he was going to get a bowl of miso and a bowl of beef at the same time, since his taste was _obviously_ so much more superior he would be able to taste both at once. Sarutobi felt the weight on his shoulders ease as the child once again was the ball of hyperactivity he was supposed to be.

Saesha gave the Hokage a small smile.

Naruto suddenly stopped. "Ichiraku, right?" He asked with the utmost concern.

"You would settle for no less," Sarutobi said, wrinkling his cheeks with a smile.

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" Naruto said, pumping his arms with each exclamation. "Ow," he moaned as he realized just how much it aggravated his injuries.

"Is there anything you want?" The Hokage asked the cringing boy.

"A shower," Saesha interjected; Naruto grimaced. "Don't worry about his clothes, he and I will go shopping for some new ones," she continued. "I can feed him, the Hyuuga keep me well funded," she added with a sly grin. "He's going to be eating a lot better too."

"And growing!" Naruto enthused.

"Is there anything else you want to know, Saru?" Saesha asked as she rescued the figurine from rolling off the bed.

"I don't think so. Please, do your best for him."

"I will," she said with resolve; Sarutobi couldn't once recall her having resolve for anything but her own training. It satisfied him immensely and gave him the hope that she wouldn't go too off kilter on the boy and end up making a bigger mess of things.

"I will be getting progress reports on you Naruto, I expect to be impressed," he said seriously.

"You bet! I'm gunna' be _badass!_" The boy declared with pointed finger.

"Good, now I have other business to attend to," he said and exchanged a final pleasantry with Saesha. When he left a smile was touching his lips and remained there for quite some time.

-ii-

"What was the message about?" Sasuke asked after the chuunin messenger left as Itachi returned to their evening meal.

"Saesha-sama has rescheduled your checkup for tomorrow afternoon."

Sasuke chewed his rice thoughtfully. "Do I have to stress my Sharingan again?"

"Hai."

Sasuke cringed. "So I have to keep my eyes open all day?" He asked redundantly.

"Hai," Itachi replied. The sliding noise of a plate informed Sasuke that he was offering him another oni-giri. Sasuke flashed one red eye open to mark the plate's location before helping himself. They ate in the passing silence until Sasuke decided he needed something else to think.

"Are you going back to ANBU tomorrow?" He asked.

"No, I will be able to train you. You should use one of your family training leave days from the academy; if you are going to stress you eyes we might as well refine your skill. I have also been given permission to accompany you."

For Sasuke that made tomorrow much more bittersweet, instead of just a mouthful – or eyeful – of bitter.

"Wait," Sasuke interrupted with a suspicion, "why is ANBU giving you so many days off?"

He heard Itachi sigh, then answer, "Because I am under investigation. Someone was hurt during the celebrations and they need to make sure they have all the stories straight."

Sasuke nodded agreeably, "Oh." It wasn't ruining his day, so his curiosity died away with the cursory answer. "So are we going to train tonight?" He asked offhandedly before taking another bite.

"No." Itachi did not expound.

"'Kay."

The uninspiring meal gradually disappeared from their plates. Sasuke stood and accepted the dish handed to him and washed them. Itachi closed the windows for the night, shutting out the sounds of their cousins playing 'Marco Polo' in a nearby yard, then Sasuke returned to his room. He pulled out his written homework from the missed academy lessons and peeked an eye open to read. He plopped himself down cross-legged and ran his hand into his hair to hold its length out of his face. Several minutes later he closed one red eye and opened the other, never revealing the tomoe in each, finding it less stressful if they remained tucked behind an eyelid. When it he needed to write it provided him a break; he closed the eye and used honed spatial awareness to guide his pen, then occasionally peeking out of the least eye to ensure his accuracy.

Two hours later he folded the book close and flicked off his light, keeping the memory of how his mom had once tucked him in locked behind a wall in his mind.

_'Tomorrow, maybe we'll figure out how to fix this,'_ he thought without much hope as he rubbed his eyes. Sleep didn't find him until half an hour later.

-ii-

AN: I'd kind of like to bolster my reviews for this (if you're like me, you usually won't read a fic with less that 100 - I leave those to the trail-blazers). But, I'm not going to beg. We both know how obnoxious that can be!

Hmm, I guess that makes you a trail-blazer? You are a better, braver breed. Thanks for reading!


	5. Awesome Cane

In the shade of a low tree, pressed against the pealing paint of an inconspicuous yard fence, Tenzo held his breath and channeled more chakra to his ears. The conversation he was listening in on had now lulled, or was being whispered to low for him to pick up, even at the short distance of four meters. His eyes pressed shut in a final effort to pick up any further threads of speech.

"Thank you, Mutosaki-san," Said Tatakai Reddo, the chuunin connected to one of the drugs found in the corpse of Uzumaki's suspected attacker.

"Hai." the other man clipped with his brash voice. With their formal farewell complete Tenzo snapped his eyes open and then pressed into the fence harder, held his breath, and suppressed his chakra. When both had passed far beyond Tenzo stood, causing a cascade of pain chips down his back.

Tenzo moved swiftly; the Hokage needed to know. Even if parts of the conversation had been lost one thing was for certain: the nondescript chuunin known as Reddo was connected to the ghost segment of ANBU, run by the extremist Danzo, known as Root.

-ii-

"Saesha-san, Saesha!" Naruto shouted as he jogged down the hallway. A miscalculation sent him crashing into the front of the couch, arching his spine awkwardly.

"Mmpf," he said into the huge leather cushions before pulling his face out and listening. Over bird calls and air whispering through the distant forest he heard footsteps on the grass outside. He burst from the couch and headed toward the sound's direction, flailing his arms out before him as an early crash detector. Four steps later and his bare foot encountered another unidentified piece of furniture. He grabbed it and cringed, then sidestepped. Six steps later and again, his foot found the new obstacle first. He thrust his arms down to grab his crunched toe only to have his fingers impact a surface just above belly button level. With his foot nearly, but not quite forgotten in his curiosity he followed the hard surface with his hand. The gentle breeze picking up and tickling him across his face and the feel of glass on one half revealed it to be an open window, a large one.

Naruto smirked.

He stood on his tippy toes and leaned out the window, using his hands to search as far down the outside as he could. He found nothing in reach, no tall boxes or garden tools to land on. He placed his palms on the window sill and hiked a knee up. After tucking his second knee up on his new perch he scooted to the outer edge. With one hand holding the side of the glass and the other placed between his legs he dropped his outer leg down. A very un-thorough sweeping pattern later he stretched his toes down as far as he could.

_'Just a little too short,' _he thought with a growl before his mischievous smile returned. He committed himself past his balance, stretching the leg even further. His hand supporting him on the window sill slipped off, forcing all his weight to the hand holding the side of the glass in the window. It was then that it revealed itself to be a _sliding_ window.

The mobile pane flew down its track and trapped his remaining leg against the wall and halted his decent to an unwelcome head crash. His now spare hand groped for a hold. His back was sprawled out against the wall and his shirt had fallen down, showing his stomach to the world. With a calming breath he reached his spare hand down, trying to find that illusive surface. His fingers felt moist earth and the brush of grass. He braced against it and yanked his caught leg; the window obliged. The force sent his waist toppling over a stilted arm. The result was a surprisingly almost painless belly flop and nearly a mouth full of dirt – had he not thought quick enough to close it at the last moment. He snorted the tickling grass from his nose and did a quick mental inspection; the worst of his injuries had definitely been the toe stubs. Naruto giggled as he pushed himself up.

He caught a whiff of the scent he was quickly becoming familiar with.

"How long have you been there?" Naruto asked.

"The whole time," _that_ woman answered.

Naruto blushed and 'looked' down, scratching the back of his head.

"Good job."

"Huh?"

"Well, you didn't get hurt, so it looks to me like you did a good job. Although, I think I am going to hang some potpourri from the door from now on."

"Yeah, I don't even know where the door is..." Naruto said as he dropped his hand and then stuck his nose in the air. Saesha didn't interrupt. Wet earth, a little lingering 'after the storm' smell, out of season flowers, a hint of some kind of wood, and the distant forest dominated the palette.

"You must like the smell of wood," Naruto commented as he searched the more subtle scents on the breeze.

"I do, the red pine that our home and dojo are built out of is my favorite, but you can't smell them much anymore," she said, sounding a bit like dog who had had it's bone taken away.

Naruto gave her a quizzical look; almost everything he had found in the home was made out of wood if it could be, and he could smell it just fine.

"Well, I can't smell it any more, you may not have any such trouble," she answered the expression.

Naruto chalked it up to old people; loss of hearing, loss of sight, why not a loss of smell?

"How old are you anyway?" He asked almost petulantly.

"Hmmmm," she drew the noise out, then finished perkily, "I'm not telling!"

Naruto scowled. One more sniff - to make sure he didn't miss anything important floating about - and he asked, "So are we training today?"

"Mhmm," Saesha said as she moved away. "Come."

"Yes yes!" The petulance vanished.

Grass crumpled under his bare feet as he followed swiftly, throwing his arms around in half imagined fights. Two extraordinarily brief battles later and a hand placed on his head interrupted his glory visions, stopping him mid spin. He flinched away from the contact and tripped over himself.

"Okay then, feisty," Saesha said as he landed on his butt, "we are in the yard at the center of the Houraisan complex."

He stood back up with his enthusiasm somewhat dimmed and asked,"What's a 'Hourashizan complex'?"

"That's my family name; it's made up of three buildings," Saesha explained and grabbed Naruto's arm.

He away, but kept himself from accidentally jerking his arm from her grip.

"Point your finger."

Naruto obliged.

She directed his arm one way and continued, "The home," she moved his arm part way around and Naruto used the warmth of the sun to mark the location, "the dojo," then moved again, "the green house." She release his arm and added, "Don't go mucking in either of the last two without myself or Shiki, you need to stay in the ho-"

"Who's Shiki?"

"My husband."

"You have a husband? He's _really_ quiet! You breathe all loud and stuff, but I can't even hear him!"

Saesha giggled.

Naruto did a double take. _'Giggled? She giggled? Isn't she too old or something?' _Then Naruto just shook the weirdness from his head.

"He's been off to doing some research and such," she explained, "but he will be home next week. I think he will handle the any chakra training you need."

When she spoke again Naruto could tell from the angle of the voice that she was sitting.

"Lets talk about how to be blind."

Naruto's shoulders sagged, but the rest of him remained alert and interested.

"First, tell me what other senses you have," she said.

Naruto propped his chin into his hand, whose elbow was propped in the arm wrapped across his stomach. After a little time of thinking he said, "I have hearing, smelling, touching and..."

When Naruto didn't finished for another minute Saesha supplied, "Taste!"

"Duh!" Naruto exclaimed and threw his arms up dramatically. "I should have remembered; there's no way I would forget _that_!"

"It's easy to miss when listing them because you aren't really tasting at the moment, are you?"

"...I need my tooth brush," Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, yeah, but you weren't tasting anything worth tasting, were you?"

"...I don't know," Naruto continued, "It's pretty nasty..."

He heard her clothes ruffle with a shiver.

"Okay, but you weren't tasting anything new. You didn't feel the breeze on you skin inside, and now you are, so your brain is paying attention to it. There's are a bunch of new smells out here too, and you're trying to use your hearing in place of sight so you're always paying attention to it, but the same old taste."

"I don't think it's an old taste, it's never been this bad before..."

Naruto heard a slapping noise.

"Never mind. Do you know of any other senses?"

He absently shifted his tongue in distaste as he thought. "Yeah, we learned about chakra sensing, but I don't really know how that works."

"Good, any more? Any that you can think of that non-ninja have too?"

After a good amount of thought he answered, "Nope."

"Well, since you're down a sense, you need to be aware of the others so they can help make up," she said.

Naruto decided to take a seat.

"Tip your head to one side," she ordered. "Now the other. Feel that? The sense that give you your balance is called the 'vestibular sense', and it's sensor is in your head. It does some other things too. Shake your head."

Naruto did.

"It tells you about the rotation by sensing 'acceleration'."

Naruto tried to puzzle out the word as he plucked the grass with his toes.

After a moment she explained. "Acceleration is speeding up; it can also sense deceleration, which is slowing down. More than that, when combined with it's ability to tell you your balance, it can sense the direction of acceleration - a very important skill for ninja flying through the air or getting blasted around by explosions. Now touch your nose with your finger."

Naruto did, smushing it.

"Now touch that finger to your other hand."

Naruto did as a hint of boredom creep up on him.

"Now touch your nose to those fingers."

He bent over to get his nose near his hand, which was currently on the ground. Saesha giggled. He scowled up at her while trying to retain contact.

"You're done. You didn't use any of the previous mentioned senses to tell where your arm was as it was aiming for your nose. If you didn't know where your arm was, you could have told the muscles to move wrong, but you didn't mess up. You didn't smell its location, I don't think your smell is that good yet, and you didn't feel it out with the other hand, nor did you hear it because it was too slow to be whooshing through the air, and if you tasted it... I'm amazed – creeped out, but amazed. That sense is called the 'kinesthetic sense'. It tells you exactly where all your body is, provided that it's still connected.

"There is one distinction I should make; touch is usually made of three components: pressure, temperature, and pain. Also, the reason you can tell your arm is damp is through temperature sensing because the moisture cools the surface down.

"Now, hair is nifty for helping sense." She let her statement simply hang in the air.

Naruto placed a hand on his blond mess questioningly.

"The other hair, like on your arms and legs. Because it sticks out it catches air movement, and at the base of it there are a bunch of pressure sensors. When it is pushed to one side or the other these sensitive sensors make sure you know. You can also recognize air movement by a temperature change, just like wetness, though it's not as obvious as when the air is tickling your hair."

Naruto nodded and blew on his arm at varying speeds. She didn't speak as he played with the new knowledge.

After a while she continued, "Unlike temperature and pressure sensors, pain sensors are everywhere in the body."

_'I know'_ Naruto thought with a swallow.

"But, you do have pressure and temperature in more places than just your skin, like in your throat and bladder and such."

"So when are we going to train?" Naruto asked impatiently as his feet pushed around the grass he had plucked.

"We are. Are you tired of ramming your feet into things?"

"Yes," Naruto groaned and rubbed his toes.

"Then we might need to get you a cane."

"What! Why?"

"Because, if you swing it around in front of you then it will hit the wall before you do – and, it's good for hitting people with too. I used to carry a cane just for that purpose a few decades ago."

_'An old person who used to carry a cane when they were younger...'_ Naruto shook it from his head again. "But I don't want to look old, I'm going to be an awesome ninja!" He protested.

"We can get you an awesome cane."

Naruto stopped, mouth half open.

"An orange cane?" He asked, pleaded.

"Probably."

"With a shuriken launcher-"

"Your arm will do a better job."

"-and switchblades?" His voice almost reached a squeak at the thought.

"Ha ha, I think the switchblades will have to wait until you've got the hang of just a plain old cane."

"An awesome, _orange_ cane," Naruto corrected with a pang at the thought of never being able to see it. He crossed his arms and legs and tucked his chin.

"Yeah yeah. So what we are going to do now is go and tie pillows to all the legs of all the furniture in the house, that way you don't hurt yourself... you know what, you'll be fine, so we'll skip that. You are going to be doing laundry. Folding and stacking cloths will help you become more accurate with your body movements and refine your kinesthetic sense, as well as temporary spatial memory, which something that is critical for a taijutsu bout in the forest."

Naruto was unconvinced, but his usual urge to argue was absent. As she led him back to the house she spoke.

"After I get you set up I'm going to be working in the greenhouse, so I won't hear you if you shout. You'll be fine and I will know if there is anyone else on the property, so don't worry about getting the door. I'll be back for lunch."

Naruto was silent, just absorbing. He felt the door brush his shoulder as he followed her into an unfamiliar room. The smell of pungent detergents hit him, making him swipe his nose.

"I'm going to have 'visitors' this afternoon too, but like I said, don't worry about it, you can stay in your room or, whatever."

With directions on where to stack and what to stack Naruto began his task without comment. She left, and all that remained to keep him company was the sound of the washer running its cycle.

-ii-

Sasuke jumped over the second kunai and spun to the side, dodging the third kunai as it cut the air beside him. He landed in a crouched position and readied two shuriken. His eyes caught another incoming kunai, widened, and then he rolled to his right. He came up with a dark grass stain on his shirt. More whizzing sounds approached.

_'One, two kunai...'_ he thought as his Sharingan searched. _'Three!'_

Without a moment of calculation he threw the shuriken in each hand. The first one intercepted the nearest kunai and knocked it off course, the second one cut a limb the width of a finger from a tree seven feet away. It fell and intercepted kunai number five, but number six passed below it unhindered. Sasuke rolled to his right again, coming up to find two kunai a hand's width from impaling his abdomen; they hung in the air ominously. Sasuke tried to calm his racing heart.

"Little brother, you miscalculated the angle of your second shuriken tip to cut the branch, it fell level rather than tumbling You should have seen the last two coming. You moved too predictably; instead of rolling to your right a second time you should have jumped, rolled back so the kunai would pass over you, or, if were capable, caught it," He heard Itachi say from somewhere in the trees. Three telltale flashes from fire clones dispersing lit up the edges of the greenery around them, and then Itachi revealed himself forty feet in front, his eye's absent of the Sharingan. With a twitch of a finger Itachi let the kunai fall to the grass.

Sasuke panted and wiped the sheen of sweat from his brow, heat radiating from his muscles. A few breaths later he asked, "Is that all?"

"My clone also revealed his arm when I threw the second kunai. You did not see it, or, if you did, you hid it very well. Those are the most critical mistakes."

"Heh heh, thanks!" Sasuke blink his watering eyes. "It would have got it if I was allowed to evolve my Sharingan. Using just one tomoe and really watering eyes means I can't throw right."

"There are many people without the Sharingan who could have made that cut," Itachi said as he neared, a smile at the corner of his mouth and eyes despite his words.

Sasuke grinned and tried to stand from his crouched position; the effort cause him to collapse onto his stomach. Accepting his fallen position he spoke in between pants, voice muffled by the ground, "I have to see but not too much, and fight at the same time. If I could just focus on making the cut instead of those it would have been a sinch."

"Sasuke, keep your eyes open."

"They are. The dirt is lovely."

"Hn."

Sasuke's ears followed as Itachi withdrew their lunches from their packs. Sasuke rolled himself over and looked up through the trees, their gentle swaying soothing to his mind after the bouts of intense calculation and combat. The sweat cooled on his skin and his breaths gradually deepened.

"Onii-san, thanks."

"Hai," Itachi replied and appeared in his vision, holding a rice ball over him.

Sasuke took one final deep breath and pushed himself up on his elbows and rolled over. Once settled he and his brother muttered "itadakimasu" and Sasuke began filling his stomach. Several times he had to blink away the moisture or wipe it on the inside of his collar before they finished.

Just a bit before the simple meal was finished Itachi glanced at the sky and announced, "It's time."

He stood and ate one of those vita-stim's he always did as Sasuke returned all their tupperware to their bento boxes. Sasuke finished packing up, stood, and followed Itachi as he lead the way to the medi-nin's home.

The youngest Uchiha focused his eyes on his brother's back, trying to zone out the rest of the world, if only to ease his eye a little.

-ii-

Tenzo pushed a surge of chakra to his legs and leaped. His ANBU robes flapped in the half a second hang time before landing on the unofficial entrance to the Hokage's office. Stepping from the window seal a warbled sound greeted him. He paused and tipped his head, then recognized the distorted voices of the Hokage and senpai. He looked around for their source, but the conversation was too disembodied to reveal their location. He took a step forward and the voices vanished. Tenzo blinked and stepped back, where they one again reappeared sounding just as strange as before.

"Do we know what time was Naruto attacked?" Kakashi asked.

"Why are you asking?" Sarutobi's asked with his rough and aged voice.

"There is a... possibility that Itachi used a fire clone for the attack before the rain. The storm could help him throw suspicion."

"If it was a planned attack he could not guarantee the rain," the Hokage said.

"Itachi isn't the impulsive type," Kakashi added in agreement.

"Yes, and Saesha confirmed that the attack happened twenty three minutes before she received the boy, putting it well into the downpour."

"Hai. There is another possibility I spotted. His stims are low grade, and if he created a Kage Bunshin immediately after using one it is possible for him to filter much of the unstable chakra he received from it, ridding him of a good chunk of the evidence and reducing the noticeable impact of the clone's creation on his chakra reserves. If he did it soon enough his chakra stores could have replenished enough to be passed off as merely the Sharingan's use and the stim's volatile chakra have already been flushed from his system. Attack the boy, turn the Sharingan on as soon as the call comes over the radio so it looks like he had been using it just as you arrive, kill the civilian after you leave and then place the bloodied kunai in his hand just in time for the other teams to arrive."

The Hokage grunted thoughtfully, the said, "That's a good theory, but I have evidence directly contradicting it. I will keep it's points in mind, but we still don't have motive."

"There is one other thing I noticed, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said after some though.

Tenzo tried to adjust his head to hear the distorted words better.

"Itachi reacted when I prodded him about the flash-bang killing the civilian."

"Oh? How so?"

"A glance to the side."

"That's a rather obvious cue," the Hokage said.

"Hai. It makes me... uncomfortable. Could he be trying to manipulate the investigation?"

Tenzo frowned; it wasn't often that Tenzo had actually _heard_ his senpai sound unsure.

"I think Itachi might be the kind who would try to manipulate a great many things if given the opportunity, but that does not mean his intentions are sinister. The position of Hokage demands manipulation on a daily basis – or else a blood bath..." Sarutobi trailed off with an amused tone. With a more professional tone he continued, "We need to establish motive. If he is manipulating, remember, above all others, manipulates need motive."

Tenzo again scanned the room: papers were about the desk, a file drawer was left open, and the door to the secretary was shut; the only other thing notable was that the door to the room sealed for private or S class conversations was closed. Tenzo moved across the room and knocked on the sealed room's door. A moment later the Hokage's wrinkled face greeted him.

"Agent A37a, welcome."

"I have two critical pieces of information," Tenzo reported urgently.

Sarutobi opened the door to usher him in.

"The first is that this room is no longer private," Tenzo said immediately.

Both men tensed.

"Someone has broken Jiraiya's seals?" The Hokage double checked.

"It seems so," Tenzo replied.

"How do you know?" The Hokage pressed.

Tenzo beckoned the old man with his finger and lead him back across the room. "Stan here." When the Hokage did Tenzo turned to Kakashi, who had his bored look plaster across his face and his hands in his pockets. "Please enter the room and activate the seals and then speak, Hatake-san."

Kakashi moved swiftly despite his lazy expression. When the door was shut, the Hokage turned an ear to the air.

"I hear nothing," he said at length and stepped back.

Tenzo frowned and then stepped onto the spot.

"'You like to exaggerate too much,' she teased. 'I know it's hard to believe, but if you get a pair of rulers we can mea-'" Tenzo jerked his head away. He was not in the 'mood' for a book reading, and, for that book, probably never would be.

"You can't hear that?" Tenzo asked as he faced the Hokage.

The old leader scowled.

"Kakashi is reading one of Jiraiya's works," Tenzo explained. "It sounds far away and distorted, warbly, but it is there..."

"I believe you," the Hokage said as he fixated his eyes on an irrelevant patch of wall, deep in thought. Then he said, "We've seen your Mokuton effect and be effected by chakra uniquely in the past. We need to establish if this was a fluke or intentional. Give me the other information you have."

"I've found a connection between the drug used on the dead civilian and Root."

The Hokage scowled deeper until his face was a collection of harsh lines and shadows in contrast to sunlight streaming into the office.

Kakashi peaked his gray haired head out of the door and asked, "Was that enough, or do you want me to continue to chapter 4? I'll understand, it's pretty gripping..."

"No thank you, senpai," Tenzo countered with a respectful tone.

Kakashi's eyes drooped a bit as he stashed the book and entered the room. A glance at his Hokage and he darkened.

The three of them stood there gravely.

"Hatake-san," the Hokage said after a moment, "please use your Sharingan and look for any signs of chakra out of place."

Kakashi lifted the forehead protector and allowed his red eye to roam the room. Several slow minutes later he reported, "I can't see anything, sir."

The Hokage nodded, and ordered, "Go bring the best Hyuuga eyes."

Kakashi bowed swiftly and slid his hitai-ite down, and then moved to the window. He leaped away with a whoosh.

After another minute of deep silence past the Hokage addressed Tenzo, "Tell me the details of what you learned."

-ii-

Sasuke blinked and regained his bearings. They were passing through the familiar forest line leading to the Houraisan home, or better named 'check-up hell', as Sasuke decided in that moment.

"Itachi-san?" Sasuke asked a bit formally. He knew his brother liked it on occasion.

"Hai?"

"Do you think they'll figure out what's wrong this time?"

"No. Only Saesha-sama is here today, so, even if she did find all the information needed, Shiki-sama would not be able to begin developing the seal until he returns," Itachi answered and withdrew a vita-stim and rolled it in between his fingers.

Sasuke followed in silence, then, just before they were in hearing range of the house, he asked, "Do you think she will get all the information?"

"No," Itachi answered and then bit into the soldier pill a moment later. He slowed until Sasuke reached his side and then they continued to the door. Itachi knocked.

...Eventually Saesha opened the door and signaled them in. When the brothers removed their sandals she said in a long suffering tone, "Thank you, I think you two may be the only people to have done that in the last week."  
_  
'It's not like you get visitors aside from us and the Hokage,'_ Sasuke thought and shook his head when she wasn't looking.

"There's a blond beast in the back, please don't disturb it," Saesha said chipperly and lead them to the living room.

Sasuke was just scowling when he noticed Itachi's dark eyes do a double-take. His brother's Sharingan flashed into existence for the briefest of moments and the tips of his fingers twitched. Then the tension, ti all disappeared completely. A fortieth of a second faster and Sasuke figured even a single tomoe Sharingan wouldn't have caught it. For the most part Sasuke ignored the reaction: Itachi had warned him when he needed to be warned of danger in the past, so until he got that warning he wasn't going to worry much.

Like usual, once in the living room she extracted a case of medical instruments from a bookshelf that held anything but books, and then instructed Sasuke to sit on the low table in front of the couch. He did so without comment and she performed the usual series of seals (Sasuke recognized more than last time, thanks to the academy's recent instruction on the rarer seals) and placed two green-lit hands on his temples. It made his eyes water even worse, until the liquid completely obscured his vision.

'_She's going to dehydrated me,'_ he thought dryly half way through the inspection.

Not soon enough she removed her glowing hands and grabbed a puny looking flashlight. Using her thumb and index finger to stretch Sasuke's right eyes open further she said, "K, evolve it."

For Sasuke, who had been fighting to keep his eyes from evolving all day, this might have come as a relief. However, he had been undergoing high intensity training at the time, where the speed and glimpses of chakra flashing about had pushed the Sharingan's inbuilt self defense response, urging it to evolve. In this comparatively still and easily seen place it was a different case; he couldn't close his eyes to help him focus either, as letting her see it evolve was the key point of it all.

Sasuke _could_ close one eye, however, as the Sharingan could be evolved separately. With his left eye shut, and with the erratic swinging of a drape near a window now blocked from his view, Sasuke pooled the chakra to his eyes. From what he understood of Itachi's explanation, concentrating chakra voluntarily was more difficult for a kid. It was his only consolation when he failed to even reach the point where the iris begin to contract in its odd way it needed to to start the evolving process, as felt by a stretching sensation.

"Do you have a mirror?" Itachi asked after after a minute or so.

"Yes," the woman answered questioningly.

Sasuke tried not to focus on anything, especially the little medical light beaming into his eye, but his concentration broke anyway when she pointed. His brother retrieved the mirror, a small thing attached to a bent handle like a dentist's instrument, and approached. Itachi held the tiny reflective surface up and, with a flash of his Sharingan to calculate angle, held it perfectly for Sasuke..

_'Breath,'_ Sasuke though as he turned all his attention to the action.

_'Relax.'_

He moved his focus to releasing every non posture essential muscle in his body. When he bled the tension from his thighs he lowered a fraction, the shift in angle bring a new rush of information from his Sharingan. However, thanks to Itachi tipping the mirror with him, his concentration did not break.

Once every part of his conscious mind was intent on keeping his muscles relax, once sound faded from his ears and smell dissipated, he turned that hone attention to his eye. He could feel the chakra, a mild warming sensation, begin to collect across his eye. He focused it further, containing it to the iris as best he could, staring at where the next tomoe should appear.

"Your Sharingan is spinning," Itachi said tonelessly.

Sasuke's concentration wavered. He hadn't even noticed, and he needed to keep the tomoe still for Saesha. He slivered off the absolute minimum of his concentration required and assigned to the task.

There it was, the building pressure in his veins, the unique stretching sensation, the heart rate's increase. Slowly, the slowest Sasuke had ever seen, the second tomoe cracked open opposite of the first. He clenched his jaw and held is concentration as his mind was blasted with the increase in information. He failed and his concentration broke, but the process was far enough along and the tomoe finished opening on its own.

Sasuke blinked rapidly and reoriented himself, having to remember where he was at. As the rest of his senses returned he tasted blood.

"I need a towel," Sasuke said around the liquid in his mouth. The woman handed him one and he spit the blood out, and then kept his tongue as still as he could to prevent reopening the wound.

As soon as he finished the woman asked, "Are you ready for the other?"

Sasuke nodded and closed his now burning right eye.

The process always easier with the second eye; the reaction was already started and just need a final push. Sasuke didn't need the mirror, just pooling chakra. Saesha peeled his left open and moved up really close until Sasuke could feel her breath on his eye. He ignored it and soon his fourth tomoe opened to the world.

Once done woman pulled the other eye open, and then back, and then the other again. She put her white light away and grabbed one that flicked on to reveal an obnoxious blue color.

"What is the reason for the green distortion?" His brother asked after she had switched back and forth.

Sasuke almost panicked: The Sharingan was _red_, not green! Was this what happened right before Uchiha went insane? He gulped.

"That's due to the chemical I gave him highlighting where the white blood cells have been; it will disappear."

The rush of relief made Sasuke's breathe shake.

"Oh, calm down, you're not going nuts any time soon," Saesha mocked.

The younger Uchiha resisted the urge to grind his teeth. He looked at his brother, who seemed utterly impassive on the exterior. Sasuke knew it he was suppressing some kind of reaction.

"Oi! Saesha!" A voice split the atmosphere before it's owner barged through the door and clung to it's frame with one arm. Sasuke didn't recognize the kid, but the spiky blond hair seemed familiar, and the obnoxious voice...

Naruto. At least, that's what Sasuke thought his name was. The bandages wrapped around his head were new though; aside from that, all he could remember was that the kid was annoying and from one of the lower grades.

_'...he doesn't look much younger.'_

"Saesha?" He almost shouted again.

"Yes?"

_'Woo, he got under her skin fast,' _Sasuke thought as he considered her tone.

"Heh heh, I think I spilled bleach on the colors bin." The boy scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Sasuke blinked and then eyed the woman a touch warily. He noticed out of the corner of his Sharingan that Itachi was completely undisturbed.

"What?" She said, flat, heavy.

"I think... I think I spilled bleach on the..." The blond took half a step back, and then lowered his head guiltily. "...bleach on the colors bin of laundry," he finished.

"Um," Saesha stalled and glanced around. "I'll be back."

"Ha!" The blond shouted and pointed at her, guilt gone. The memory of that same 'ha' ringing through academy echoed through Sasuke's mind, and he had the feeling that whatever the blond said next it was going to be annoying.

"I totally got you!" The blond raved. "You fell for it. Completely. Ha ha ha ha!"

With a glance at the woman's 'not amused' expression, Sasuke suddenly felt that, somehow, it was not near as annoying as expected.

The blond crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame in what he no doubt thought was a 'cool' pose. With a low tone and a smirk he said, "Badass ninja do that all the time."

Sasuke hn-ed quetly, allowing a touch amusement into it.

Saesha wafted her hand responded airily, "I'm just a little disappointed I won't be able to use you as lawn fertilizer..."

Sasuke was a little disappointed as well; it was like going to a firework show and only seeing a few bottle rockets launch. All that build up on Saesha's face and nothing.

"It was very convincing," Itachi added spontaneously.

Sasuke glanced at him sideways.

The blond's head perked up and angled toward Itachi.

"Hey, you're that Uchiha guy with the badass voice, right?"

"...hai."

Sasuke glanced back to the blond.

"Awesome! So, who else is here?" He asked as he took half a step further out of the room.

"This is Sasuke," Itachi explained. The fact that Itachi didn't use the suffixes to indicated that Sasuke was his brother made Sasuke a bit proud, like he was saying that Sasuke was his own man, even if Itachi was still a hundred times better.

"Uhh, hi," Naruto said and gave a short awkward wave.

"Hn," Sasuke replied. He may not have been as annoying as Sasuke remembered, but he still wasn't Itachi.

"I'm going to go now," the blond said after a drawn moment and disappeared down the hallway.

Itachi did not let their attention stay distracted, asking Saesha the moment the boy was gone, "What have you learned?"

"Hmm," the woman said as she stashed her instruments haphazardly. "Well, it seems after a month of hit-and-miss investigation I've identified that there is an increased in the amount of while blood cells around and behind the eye when the Sharingan evolves. It might be part of why you and the other Uchiha have such strong immune systems, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke turned the corners of his mouth down slightly.

"Anyway," She continued, "I will tell Shiki all the details, and I really think this is going to help us get you a suppression seal," she said and sat into the couch, and then nodded her head to Sasuke. "Maybe even in a few months, and then you'll finally be able turn those eyes of yours off. I bet it messes you up a bit."

Her image was distorted as yet another droplet flowed across Sasuke's eyes, making his longing that much more acute. He closed his eyes to clear them and with much effort forced them back open to find the woman staring.

"What?"

"You look like hell. Close your eyes; I don't want you to die from chakra exhaustion after we've done all this work."

Sasuke again resisted the urge to grind his teeth. He let his eyes slip close, savoring the release as it the tension that had built in his mind to keep his eyes open for so long finally disappointing. He tipped over and barely felt his cheek smush against the table before he was completely lost in sleep.

-ii-

A/N: Oh my, Oh My!

Well, I'm experimenting with a new ending section for our newer readers, a reference with all the Japanese included. Snark comes free.

**Japanese:**

-ANBU: An acronym short for _An__satsu Senjutsu Tokushu __Bu__tai_; Literally meaning "Special Assassination and Tactics Squad". The acronym itself means "Dark Side". Pretty badass, huh? Seems like in canon it could also stand for "Always Near But Useless", just sayin.

-Hai: An affirmative response, such as "yes", "on it", "yes sir or ma'am". Has nothing to do with whether or not a person is under the influence of recreational pharmaceuticals.

-Konoha: Short for Konohagakure, meaning "Village Hidden in the Leaves". Sure sounds a lot cooler than what the English dub of the anime uses: "Hidden Leaf Village". What kind of weak sauce is that? A flame throwing lightening propelled kunai could be "hidden in the leaves", but "Hidden Lead Village" makes me thing of the smurfs home town or something - except with fewer girls. which is bad, because there only ever was one girl in the smurfsville to begin with... ...awkward...

-sama: A _very _respectful term, somewhat humbling to the user. For kicks and giggles I call my droopy faced American Bull Dog "Boomer-sama". I can't help but bust up laughing every time I say it to that smushed up face of his.

-san: Like a mix between "Mr." or "Mrs." and the modern day "sir" (not the much-more significant "sir" of the middle ages. Knighthood and all that.).

-tomoe: The comma like symbols found on the Sharingan and the curse seal that Orochimaru likes to pass around.


	6. A Lead

"Tell me the details of what you learned," the Hokage ordered a minute after Kakashi jumped out the office window to collect a Hyuuga.

"Agent D18c is in contact with Tatakai Reddo, and it seemed like Reddo was reporting to him," Tenzo answered briskly.

The Hokage continued to scowl. Agent D18c, a traitor to ANBU that was work for Root while trying to remain in the ANBU ranks; most of ANBU remained ignorant due to the Hokage playing his cards so close to the chest.

The Hokage moved over to his desk an took his chair, then withdrew his pipe and tapping it to his lip. Danzo was slipping to allow such information into their hands. If he was slipping it meant one of two things: Danzo was doing so intentionally or we was under some unexpected pressure, most likely a time based pressure. Maybe it was time to become more aggressive with Root.

"How long has Reddo been working for them, do you think?" The Hokage asked.

"They were pretty formal, so I would guess that Reddo is still a peon, or else very uncomfortable around D18c. I don't know enough about his habits and mannerisms to make the distinction, sir. Still, I get the feeling that he's not valued much."

The Hokage settled into thought. The hottest part of the afternoon had just left causing a breeze to play with the tips of his white hair. He grunted, shifting the phlegm in his lungs and then turned his eyes towards the bank of windows. "Even less so if he leads us to them," he commented distantly. When his eyes returned to the present he said, "Make a clone and place him at the door."

"Hai."

Tenzo reached out his hand to his side. It's skin color darkened and distorted and with a burst of growth it shaped into his likeness. The clone's color appeared as it stood and nodded and then left the office, placing on its ANBU mask.

Tenzo folded his arms and the Hokage weaved his fingers together. A few minutes passed and a Hyuuga landed outside the sun soaked windowsill with Kakashi a breath behind. He stepped in and bowed to the Hokage.

-ii-

_'Covered up a shadow clone or attacked before the rain, maybe two of his chakra stims-' _Tenzo's thought were interrupted by the Hyuuga's arrival.

"Hatake-san informed me of the situation," The man said, bowing low to the Hokage. He snapped back up and formed the seals for his dojutsu. His eyes didn't need to roam perform his search. Thirty second of inspection and the Hyuuga turned simply turned his head to cover his blind spot. "I see nothing, Hokage-sama," he reported a moment later.

Tenzo hardened his eyes and turned his attention to his leader. The old man's attention focused on the Hyuuga making him straighten his already impossible straight posture further.

"How else can you investigate?" The Hokage asked.

"If I was shown where the sound appeared it might help to let me hear it, or search from that point," he answered with impeccable diction after a moment's thought.

"Hatake-san did not know to inform you but this agent," the Hokage pointed with his pipe to Tenzo, "has unique chakra properties. He is one so far who has been able to hear."

Hyuuga's eyes widened by the smallest increment. "Please stand at the point you can hear it," he said after a delay; Tenzo resisted the impulse to glance to the door his Mokuton clone was behind before he complied.

The man's look of concentration was easier to imagine as a glare than an inspection. "I need someone to make noise in the room, the effect may not appear until it is stimulated by such."

Kakashi's lone eye wrinkled his smile as he casually strode to the private room. Tenzo eyed the back of his head until his senpai closed the door.

Kakashi began reading. Tenzo kept his grimace from reaching his face and began forming mental walls about his hearing.

"Can you hear it?" The Hyuuga asked, breaking said wall.

_"Keep the hat..."_

"Hai," Tenzo answered and hurriedly repaired his mental blocks - Senpai would just think it was getting good.

"Lower your head," the Hyuuga said.

"Hai," Tenzo clipped, again having to restore the blocks. Kakashi's voice continued on, a little too expressively, as Tenzo lowered. Once he reached a full crouch the narration vanished. "I've lost it," he said with a relaxing jaw.

"Move your head around horizontally until you find it again."

"Hai," Tenzo responded promptly despite himself. He moved his head forward toward the window and heard nothing. Likewise the area beside him. his toward the desk and the office entrance, were mercifully quiet. He made last moment reinforcements to his blocks and rocked back onto his heals towards the not-so-private room.

"I hear it," Tenzo answered, unable to keep his teeth from gritting.

After ten more narrated seconds, which ANBU Agent Tenzo suspected were not entirely necessary, the Hyuuga declared, "That is all."

Tenzo jumped to his feet away from the sound and recovered his composure. Even if he wanted to be read that smut, _senpai's_ voice would not be the one he'd have narrating. He glanced to the Hokage, causing the upturned corners of his leader's mouth to flatten a little too swiftly.

The Hyuuga turned his eyes towards the room. "Deactivate the seals please, my Byakugan cannot see in there clearly while they are functioning."

Tenzo strode across the room to obliged. He pulled open the door and said, "Senpai, that is all."

"Are you sure you don't want me to fini-"

"Hai."

With a big sigh Kakashi stashed his book and wandered passed Tenzo back into the office.

The Hyuuga inspected the room intensively but Tenzo relaxed: now the attention was not focused solely on him.

"Nothing..." The Hyuuga mumbled to himself after two full minutes and turned his attention outside. "I need the seals activated and noise again."

Kakashi's smiled his smile as he dutifully extracted his reading material and returned to the private room, stuffing his free hand in his pocket and slidding the door closed with his heel.

A moment later later the Hyuuga's eyes narrowed. "I've found it," earned him the full attention of the two still in the room.

"I don't understand how it defeats the room's seals but the sound is being converted into... chakra signals... I think they're called, and then passed from one seal to the next until they reach their destination."

The Hokage nodded his head and asked, "Are you sure they are chakra signals?"

"Hai. It is one of the few or only forms of chakra that a Hyuuga cannot see; beyond that, I know nothing of them. However, I could see hints of them when you-" he looked to Tenzo, who resisted the urge to tense up, "-were intercepting the signal. Something about your chakra nature restores the chakra signals to normal chakra."

"Not restores," the Hokage corrected, "but rather knocks them out of wave form. Thank you, that is all. Keep the information regarding this discovery and my agent's effects on chakra signals private. We may call upon you later."

The Hyuuga bowed. "Hai, Hokage-sama," he said then he stepped onto the windowsill and leaped away with the whooshing of his robes.

Tenzo considered retrieving senpai from the private room again, but decided to simply leave him unless ordered otherwise.

-ii-

_'Ninja,'_ Taikama snorted at the thought. _'You have to start being a ninja when you're five. "As good as" the other kids from a "defective system". Not much of a promise.'_

The sun was flowing through a cloudless sky as afternoon became evening. The younger orphan boys played a mix game of race and dodge ball. One of the younger kids saw his chance and placed a skilled throw at Dasamaru's. Dasamaru's pumping legs caught the ball, tripping. He ate dirt, spit dirt, and then grinned. He collected the ball and spied his own target and ran from the cloud of dust with a taunt.

Taikama leaned against the orphanage chewing a lock of hair while furiously picking at the rot in the decomposing siding. There was grit under every nail and smudges on his hands, but the rest of him remained unmarked by his unconscious habits – he had cleaned himself, figuring if someone was going to take him, even unofficially, he would at least extend them the same courtesy he had given to all those potential parents who had visited recently.

His brows drew together._ 'It's the best chance I have.'_ It was that persistent thought that marred his skepticism.

He growled.

After a minute of trying to suppress an internal war he elected to distract himself. He sprinted into the middle of the younger kid's game and managed to catch the ball from the air. Placing a sly grin on his face he asked, "Mind if I join, boys?"

One kid narrowed his eyes, three vibrated with excitement, one snorted, and Dasamaru smirked and then he said, "You're _so_ on my team."

-ii-

...something...

_'Running?'_

Bunch of steps...

Something collided into a sleeping Sasuke and someone shouted - or maybe that someone was the something, or something...

Sasuke snapped open his eyes. The pupils contracted, taking the searing white image to a viewable level.

_'...blond.'_

"Maa, get off me," he slurred. He lifted his hand to his eye and picked at the buildup of crusties that always formed after he stressed them so.

"Heh heh," The kid laughed awkwardly, "Sorry, I didn't know you were there. ...You breathe really quiet."

Sasuke grunted when the other kid pushed himself off. Sasuke began clearing his other eye as he pushed himself part way to a sitting position on the over sized couch. With both eyes cleared he noticed the wisker marks on the other boy's face.

"Naruto," he stated with a touch of confusion.

"H... hai."

"Mm," he grunted again and flopped back down on the couch and rolled his back to the world.

It didn't work.

"Wait," Sasuke mumbled as he heard the kid's receding steps. They stopped. "You ran through the house and you don't know where the couch is?"

"Heh heh heh, uh... hai."

"You're not very good at this, are you?"

The kid didn't respond.

_'Now I've pissed him off,' _Sasuke thought mournfully; there had been some pretty intense pranks in the past, and Itachi frowned upon Sasuke flaunting his ninja skill in class; it would probably apply here too.

"Whatever, it takes practice," he amended with slurred speech. Taking a deep breath he tried to fall back asleep.

"Uh, I guess. I've only had about two or three days."

Sasuke ignored him, still intent on returning to that beautiful land of blackness.

"I forgot your name..." The kid said, managing to be even more awkward.

"Sasuke."

The other kid was silent for a moment, then said, "Wait, you're that really awesome ninja from the next class!"

Sasuke's eyes snapped open. 'Awesome ninja', not 'Uchiha' said with spite.

"I-" he almost stuttered "-get a lot of help from Itachi-san," he finished and rolled over to look at the boy.

"Yeah, it's not _that_ big a deal," Naruto retracted immediately.

Sasuke just stared at him before pushing himself fully into a sitting position. He sighed. "When will you get to take those bandages off?" He asked when the curiosity of the young within him would be denied no longer.

"I don't know, a week maybe," the blond said and shifted his weight in a way Sasuke knew to signal something was off.

"A weeks worth of practice should help make you a better ninja," Sasuke said diplomatically, wishing Itachi were around. His eyes wandered to the whisps smoke rising from the incense stands near the kitchen.

"Hai."

Sasuke's eyes snapped back; the other kid sounded _depressed_ about that fact.

"You don't want to be a ninja?" Sasuke asked, keeping his voice near toneless.

"Of course I do!" The other kid had no compunctions about tone _or_ volume.

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and then popped them back open, doing quick scan for any sign of his brother or that woman. With no success he closed them and rested them against his palms.

"...so, do you have practice?" The other kid broke the short, but pleasent silence.

"What?" Sasuke asked rubbing his eyes in slow circles.

"Being blind."

"Hai. Not 'blind' exactly, but basically."

"...any stuff I should know?" The blond asked after another awkward pause.

Sasuke cringed. He didn't want to teach anyone and he didn't want to talk about all the ways he had to work around his eyes; being hated and considered pathetic was not the future he was going to have.

"Not really," Sasuke saind, "you'll figure out most of the stuff that will help you be a ninja by the time you can see again." Sasuke didn't_ know_ he would figured it all out, but it was a guess and maybe it would keep the kid from trying to get Sasuke to teach him.

"Oh," the blond said; Sasuke peeked open an eye just to see him turning toward the door outside.

"Do you know where onee-san is?" Sasuke asked before he could disappear.

The kid snapped around. "Itachi-san's you're brother?" He asked enthusiastically.

"Hai. Do you know where he is?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head around the bandages and said, "Naw, Saesha and him said they would be back in like an hour. It's been half of one, I think."

Sasuke grunted and closed his eye, then lay back on the couch. He probably should train, but he'd already done a lot, and his chakra felt really low. He suddenly wished he had one of Itachi's weak little chakra pills.

Sasuke rolled his back to the waking world once again.

-ii-

The far side of the sky was just darkening into a vibrant purple as the same dark man arrived, just as promised. For Taikama his appearance killed a small hope that the man would just never arrive and Taikama could go back to handling life the way he knew best. Now, though, it was a whole new game.

"Are you ready?" The tenor voice asked when he neared.

Taikama placed on a smirk of confidence, far from what he felt, and said, "I've been since I was orphaned. Maybe before."

"Good. You will need that dedication and more still. Come."

Taikama hopped off his fence and tucked his sparse collection of clothes under his arm, their familiarity offering a touch of comfort. Just a few paces down the abandoned street and the man stopped and drilled a finger into Taikama's shoulder to indicate he should do the same. He did and the man pulled back Taikama's collar and placed a palm sized piece of paper covered in intricate drawing just between his shoulder blades.

"This will hurt."

"Hai." Taikama retained his cocky tone.

The man made a hand shape; Taikama bit off a scream. The corners of his vision whited out and he dropped down on one knee. His arms and shoulders seized and sweat began slicking his skin. He ran out of air and fought for more.

Then, it let up.

Taikama's eyes opened, pupils constricting and dilating frantically. Several blinks managed to clear his vision. As his wits returned he saw his folded cloths scattered in the dirty road and a mild frown upon the dark ninja.

Taikama swallowed and hid all the signs of his suffering. He collected his clothes and shook the road's dust from them and then rose.

"Shall we continue."

Taikama sometimes would hang around the hospital. Well, outside really, but it gave him something to distract himself with and he got to see a lot of ninjas. He had seen some ninja kids come in with injuries from their training. Once he had seen an Inuzuka child come because of a failed beast-like transformation, resulting in claws too large for their fingers or fangs that shot down and pierced the lower jaw. He saw the kid the every other day for a week; he just kept trying until one day he didn't show up any more. Taikama had also heard that sometimes the Aburame colonies might disagree with a kid when first introduced to their system, and he imagined that was painful too. And the Uchiha, they... they had a lot of pain or at least the said so when you got one to talk, which Taikama had only managed to do once and he was really young.

So what was his this but the start of being a ninja?

"Hai," Taikama barked over the uneasiness he felt.

-ii-

–

October 16, six days after the Kyuubi Anniversary:

–

Naruto stepped as lightly as he could, placed his ear on his door, and listened to the hallway beyond. The smell of wood and stain filled his nostrils, a much stronger sensory input than the scant noise his ears found. A shuffle of feet, the sliding of a chair, and undiscernable low voices were all he was hearing. Naruto crunched his eyes closed and concentrated harder and stilling his breathing. He could now make out Saesha's teasing tone but the other person still talked too low. The conversation meandered and then stalled. A cup sliding across the table and the nighttime crickets through the window behind marked the passage of a few minutes. Naruto took a few deep breaths and then returned to pressing his ear against the door. The man, as Naruto now identified him, restarted the conversation in a way that sounded like a new subject. Naruto could hear the smirk in that woman's voice as she replied. The man asked something else and again Saesha replied confidently.

Naruto could feel it: in his jaw, in his toes, in his arms, and along his spine his curiosity drove at him, asking, "What is she so smug about?"

_'...It's like she pulled off a prank or something.'_ The thought did nothing to sate his curiosity.

He gulped and gripped the cool handle. He used Saesha's enthusiastic boasting to cover the whish of the door opening. His breath flowed hot across his lips as he used his best ninja steps and placed his right hand to the wall for guidance . His fingertips brushed across the rough sanded wall and over three doors until the wall turned away and disappeared at the start of the living room. He pulled his arm back and pressed himself against the last door.

"I thought it was, but it wasn't," Saesha continued, almost sing-song.

"Mm, so a counter-diametrical matrix wont be enough," the man said, his smooth voice lost in thought.

"Hai," Saesha said in her 'business' tone Naruto had come to recognize recently in Saesha's 'training' sessions. "Not only that, but the symtoms indicate at least four factors responsible for the changes."

"That removes the chance of simply attaching a minor routing segment to the counter-diametrics too." The took a sip and sighed. "That's going to increase the calculations, oh, four fold..."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Just having a fourth factor?" Saesha pressed.

"I have to add two more factors, actually. I know we were planning for three factors, but I was going to cheat and use a modified routing segment to handle the third instead of having to balance it with other two inside the primary matrix. I can't do that when we add the fourth factor, so now I have to balance the primary matrix for all of them; if I'm lucky the increase in calculations will only be exponential." To Naruto's ears the man sounded both more excited and more weary by the end of his explanation.

"I see."

With a teasing tone the man demanded, "Get me some more tea!"

"Sorry, killed the housewife, you'll just have to deal with me."

A chair slid back and he asked, "Would you like some more?"

Saesha snorted, "Mine hasn't even cooled down yet."

In the silence that followed Naruto fought the urge to scratch under his bandages.

"So," the man sighed a bit dramatically once seated, "Since you're going to make me ask, what _is_ the new factor you've discovered?"

"We knew there was an elevated immune response but I kept looking for higher counts of antibodies, not white blood cells." Naruto thought the tone was embarrassment, but he hadn't heard her embarrassed before, and thus was caught in indecision. Saesha continued, "The thyroid... it was leading me on a wild Minato chase too. I guess its secretion imbalances are a symptom, not a cause, but I couldn't get passed the fact that his thyroxine production is so drastically high it should have been screwing up his mental development or killing him, but despite the huge increase in secretion the actual levels in the blood remained within normal range - that an-"

"Beautiful, get to the point. I don't know what thyroxine is."

She gave disgruntled short and Naruto heard her taking her time blowing on her tea.

"Please," he coaxed.

"Fine, I'll dumb the rest of it down for you, but don't expect me to know what _'counter-diametrical'_ means."

He chuckled; she remained silent.

In the silence Naruto realized he was scratching. He clenched his jaw and slipped is finger from his bandages, then turned his attention back toward the quiet kitchen.

The silence didn't last long; Saesha started with a burst, "Those with the Faded Sharingan have an increased immune system because of the increased white blood cell count, which is a bit reverse the normal logic as a raised white blood cell count indicates some kind of long term disease or immune dysfunction. But, the thing is, there _isn't_ either of those." Naruto's finger inched back up toward the bandage- "It's like his body is saying 'we need to fight invaders!' and then when all the fighters arrive no one can find the enemy!" -and then lowered again; he _understood_ that. "I tracked the cells and they swarm the boy's Sharingan every time it does something notable. Something there is foreign, or at least the body think so, and it's the strongest when the kid evolves his dojutsu."

A cup clunked on the table.

"Seriously?" The man asked, his smooth voice tightened with excitement.

"Hai."

Naruto heard a scrolls being unfurled hastily and Saesha _finally_ sipping her tea.

There was a smack of palm to forehead. "No wonder it worked on Itachi!"

Saesha grunted questioningly.

"This is bad news. Good news. Good news and bad news," the man said, almost like that one homeless guy with three people in his head.

"Explain."

"One moment, let me check..."

Another paper unfurled resulting in a big sigh.

"What?"

"This ruins my theory. Itachi's seal didn't have a second catalyst restrictor on the chakra reroute; having to perform that in the womb probably would have killed his mother instead of just giving her a limp." His voice had lost its fervor.

"Still over my head."

"Mine too, but I think you've brought it down to at least the treetops for me, instead of somewhere up there in the clouds."

A brush stroked and the occasional crinkling paper.

"If I helped so much... does that mean that the Fading could be caused by a seal? If it brings it down so much for you... well, that's your area of expertise."

Everything stopped. Naruto snatched his hand away from his bandages.

"...Maybe. No, I don't think so. But! That was a pretty clever deduction, Sunshine."

Saesha snorted.

"I _know _you like it."

Saesha snorted again.

"It's okay, you don't have to tell me, no need to admit it."

"I don't have to tell you, but I do have a gaki I need to smother with a pillow."

Naruto's eyelids would have popped open if his bandages did not keep them shut.

"I was wondering when you were going to send him off."

"Hai. I figured I would let him listen in a little; I prefer him good and confused, then he pays better attention when I dumb down the lessons for him."

The rough sliding chair was a starting gun. Naruto burst down the hall, smacked the door open with his head, and jumped under the covers. He listened to her slow approach, footsteps padding closer and closer.

"Thought so. Stay in bed next time - and go to sleep."

"H-Hai."

Naruto could here her breath, standing in the door nearly a whole minute to make him sweat. When the door was shut Naruto gingerly rubbed his swelling head, and then reached down and recovered the sheet he had smashed to the foot of the bed in his haste. He played the very incomplete memory of the events over in his mind, looking for when she could have detected him. When he remember the stutter he scowled.

"I'll go to sleep when I want!" He shouted sown the hallway. Satisfied, he rolled over and stayed in the waking world not a moment longer.

–

END


End file.
